The Life of an ODST
by dpunk3
Summary: Makie is in the UNSC as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Wonder how that'll go...
1. A Worried Soul

A/N: This is a kind of mix between Halo, Resident Evil, and Negima... with some other characters mixed into it. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them. You may think this is stupid, since Halo, Negima, and Resident Evil takes place during different times, but I thought it would make for a good story. I hope I'm not wrong. If I am, tell me and I won't mix any characters from different stories together. It takes place during Halo, and the setting and action have to do with Halo, but I'm going to classify this under Mahou Sensei Negima because Makie and her friend are the center of the story.

_Chapter 1: A Worried Soul_

A group of fifteen unfortunate Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (commonly known as ODST soldiers) stood in the hangar of a ship. The noise of the chatty solders was overwhelming to a normal person. Of them, a pink haired girl with two ribbons in her hair, who wore a bulletproof vest (not that it would do much against the covenant plasma weapons), held a large battle rifle, and the normal ODST outfit stood there, waiting for the new commander to arrive. She was scared, she joined at the worse time possible. The covenant had just declared war on the humans. They did not know of Earth, else they would have destroyed it. She had heard that not even the most elite warriors of Earth, the Spartans, could beat the overwhelming power, and numbers, of the covenant. Not to mention the new race of horrifying parasites that could kill you and take over your dead corpse, the Flood. And she was to be sent in to battle these monsters as a rookie.

"Hey," a voice came up behind her. She quickly turned around to see a tall boy, not much older than her, with brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Hi," she responded shyly as she looked down.

"My name is Anthony DiFeno, whats yours?"

"Makie Sasaki," she looked up. "Sorry, I'm new and a little nervous. What are we doing here?"

"Were supposed to be getting a new team leader today. I don't know much more then that. But, he's supposed to be one of the best leaders there is."

"Are you new?" She replied"

"No, I've been here for a year. Sargent Anthony DiFeno, you?

"Rookie."

"Well I'll look after you, in case you got yourself into trouble." He said as he smiled and looked at her.

"Thanks, that means a lot, I don't know anyone here, so it's nice to have a friend. When is the new team leader supposed to be here?"

"Any minute now. The general told me..." He was cut off early by the sound of two sets of footsteps, one metal and clangy, and another pair of normal footsteps. As they both looked forward, a giant metal man wearing enhanced MJOLNIR Mark IV armor, and holding a shotgun stepped to the front of the group of people, a blond haired man with an unusual outfit and a small pistol followed.

"Hello, I am your new team leader. I am Master Chief Petty Officer John- 117. This," he pointed behind him, "is Leon Scott Kennedy. He has been sent to aid me. Its nice to meet you all, but lets get down to it. Our assignment is to rescue General Lance Thatch. He was taken 12 hours ago from a ship that crash landed after a covenant ship fired at it." Everyone looked around, confused.

"Is there a problem?" Leon spoke up.

"We received orders that we were going to be taken to stop the covenant from destroying a new human base that is in the making." A solder said.

"That was a front. We cannot let anyone else know that the General was kidnapped. Our forces must think that he is here, for the moment." Leon said.

"Our take- off is in 1 hour. Be prepared, this won't be easy." Chief and Leon walked away.

"I'm scared..." Makie said to Anthony.

"Don't be. Well make it." He said reassuringly.

"Were boarding a covenant ship, there's no way were gonna survive!"

"If I knew the Master Chief was going to be our leader, I wouldn't have been worried. Trust me, with Chief, we can do it."

"What's so special about him?"

"Master Chief has boarded a covenant ship overrun with both Elites, and the Flood. And made it out. That was before blowing up Halo."

"Halo?" she responded, "What's a Halo?"

"Its a ring. Capable of completely decimating an entire planet."


	2. The First Attack

A/N: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 2: The First Attack_

Fifteen ODST soldiers sat in the ship. Waiting for the drop. The pods were open and in front of them. Makie looked at them, and thought they looked more like coffins than drop pods. As she stared at them horrifyingly, a warm hand touched hers. She looked at the person next to her, who looked down and smiled at her. She looked down, blushing.

"Lets go, were at our destination!" Leon screamed over the sound of the engines.

* * *

All of the ODST members got up and went to their pods. Then, the hatches were closed, and a sudden, painful jerk came. Makie cried as she felt lightheaded, and thoughts of death came over her. After two and a half minutes of pure torture, her legs felt an extremely powerful bang that sent shock waves throughout her body, and she blacked out.

"Makie!" A blur came over. "Makie!" When she finally came back, she realized she was in the arms of Anthony. "Are you OK?" She turned dark red and jerked up when she realized where she was.

"Yea, I'm fine, it was just unusual. I'm sorry, how long was I out for?"

"Forty five minutes." He got up as well.

"WHAAT???"

"Calm down, some people are still out, see." As he pointed, she looked over to the pods. Five were still unopened.

"How come I'm out? Why am I still not in my pod?"

"I got you out. I was worried." He walked over to her pod and got her battle rifle. Then walked back to her, bent down, and picked up his own, and gave her hers.

"Thank you. Did you, you know, when it was your first time?"

"Everyone does. Falling 25,000 feet will do that to you. I went at about ¾ of the way through without passing out my first time, when did you?

"When I landed."

"Wow, I've never met anyone who went the whole way."

"If your finished, lets get camp going." They turned around to see Leon, holding logs and staring at the two impatiently.

"My apologies sir." Anthony said as he saluted, and Makie followed. Leon walked away towards Master Chief, who was with two other drop shock troopers, giving orders and unpacking weapons. Makie started towards the open pod with the camping supplies inside. As she did, another pod came open and a nauseous ODST came out and threw up.

"Hey, Anthony, did the UNSC ever think of developing another way to drop off soldiers?" She said as she looked back at him.

"Doubt it, its cheap, effective, and easy. For the pilots, cant say the same for the soldiers." He said as he looked for the other item pod.

"Did you pass out just now?"

"No, I got used to it, you will to if you stay long enough." He walked over to the second item pod.

"How long does it take?" She asked while she took out the tent from the first item pod. She started to set it up but looked back at Anthony, thinking he didn't hear her.

"It took me about 20 drops" He replied embarrassingly.

"Wow, that's a long time. Does it take that long normally?" She looked back at the tent and stabbed the ground with two long poles, curved over each other.

"No, that was just me. It usually doesn't take that long." Another ODST came out of his pod, threw up, and fell over. Then passed out again.

"Oh, I hope I don't take that long. Wait, you've made 20 drops in a year? And your still only a Sargent? How does that make sense?" Makie said surprised.

"I haven't been recommended for any higher ranking yet. Your leader has to approve of it as well." He began to unload the ration boxes from the drop pod.

"Oh, so it looks like a dim chance for me to be promoted any time soon." Makie looked down, sadly.

A voice came up from behind both of them. "Doubt it. After this mission, I'm pretty sure everyone here will get promoted." They jerked around to see Leon. "Saving a general usually gets you at least one promotion, and a medal. I apologize, I have been too hard on you guys. I hope we can be friends.

" Thank you sir. Its an honor to work under you."

"Please, call me Leon." Two thuds came from the left of him. Leon looked over to see the two poles on the ground, and Makie struggling with the tent. "Makie, may I help you with your tent?"

"No, its OK, I should be able to at least get this by myself." She restarted her task, when suddenly, loud screeches came from a plasma rifle behind. The ODST member who fell down was awoken, as was three other people in the pods. As they struggled to get out, they grabbed their guns and started to shoot at the covenant team that was behind them without success. Leon grabbed Makie and the drop shock trooper on the ground and jumped behind the pillar. Master Chief grabbed the shotgun lying next to him and jumped over the tent in front of him and shot an elite in the air. He landed on a grunt, who screamed. Master Chief proceeded to pull out a pistol from his leg strap, shoot the elite to his right, and the grunt to his left, he then killed the two in front of him, and somersaulted behind the elite behind him, and smashed his back, killing him. Leon picked up his riot gun and killed the elite coming from the shadows behind him, and the other who jumped from above. Anthony grabbed his battle rifle and threw it at a grunt, who flinched. Anthony then kicked the grunt in the face and turned it's entire head around, breaking it's neck. Anthony reacted quickly and grabbed his battle rifle, and the grunt's plasma pistol it dropped. He charged the plasma pistol and jumped in the air, just dodging the elite with the energy sword below. He accurately shot the elite with the plasma pistol while still moving in the air, and then shot his other burst- fire gun at the elite 3 times, ending him. Master Chief turned to see a backup group coming, he quickly found a plasma grenade, picked it up, and threw it at the grunt coming at him, who ran back to the backup group, and exploded, killing them all.

"That was too close. I want a quarter mile perimeter around here stat!" Called Master Chief.

"Yes sir! The drop shock trooped next to him said. Who then proceeded to grab wired trip mines and ran out.

"I need medical attention!" Called Leon, holding Makie in his arms. Makie had been shot in the side, and was having a seizure. "Shes going into cardiac arrest!" The medic, Master Chief, and Anthony rushed over to Makie and the three held her down. The medic administered a dose of benzodiazepine, a tranquilizer. Makie stopped seizing, and the medic started to administer CPR as Leon ran over to get the defibrillator. When he came back, they charged it, and shocked Makie, who came back.

"Make her tent and take her to it" Leon said to Anthony.

"Yes sir, can I stay with her until she comes to?"

"Of course" Leon responded.

"Thank you." Anthony quickly started his task. He stabbed the two poles into the ground, pulled them up, and attached the dome tent to them.


	3. Packing Up

A/N: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 3: Packing Up_

Makie awoke in a tent, with Anthony laying his head on her stomach, asleep. It was night time, and all she could remember was loud screeches coming from behind her. She felt weird that he was laying on her, but she did not want to wake Anthony up, so she stayed on her bed, stroking his hair for fun, until morning three hours later. When Anthony woke up, he realized what he was laying on, and quickly jerked himself up, hoping Makie was still asleep. Of course, she was not.

"My apologies, I was out of line." She smiled back at him

"Its fine, when did you go to sleep?"

"Not sure, I stayed with you for about 6 hours, then I think I crashed."

"6 HOURS??? WHAT HAPPENED???" Makie screamed surprisingly.

"Calm down, its OK. The covenant sent a deploy team to see what dropped. They found us."

"I don't remember anything."

"You got shot in the back. You had a seizure, and your heart stopped." The explanation scared her, especially the last part.

"M...my heart...stopped?" She said, as she was shaking.

"Unfortunately, yes." He held her hand to stop her shaking, much to her embarrassment. "You have a third degree burn on your side. The medic said you can't walk, so I'm going to carry you for today." The fact that he was going to be carrying her made her really nervous. She had never held hands with a boy aside from Anthony, and now he was going to carry her. She turned deep red.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to be a burden, just leave me behind." She got more scared as those words slipped her lips, she wished she could take them back, or she hoped Anthony would say no.

"What? No, your not a burden. I will be happy to. I know it may be a little weird, but it'll be OK. I'm sorry it has to be this way though." Makie was happy, and embarrassed at the same time. She was glad he said no, but nervous that he was going to be carrying her the whole day. She hoped this would go well.

"Thank you" Makie looked at him and said, as small tears dropped down her cheeks.

"Good, your up." Both of them looked up to see Leon at the entrance of the tent. "I'm assuming you already know what happened and what's going to happen?"

"I told her, sir" Anthony replied.

"I told you..." Leon said, "Call me Leon."

"I told her, Leon" Antony started.

"Good, then lets get packed. We leave in 2 hours." Leon left. Anthony looked back at Makie, as she examined her bandaged side.

"I have another shirt for you, its gonna be cold"

"Thanks. She looked up at him, smiled, then made a weird face. "It hurts."

As she spoke, the medic walked in. "Looks like I'm just in time, then. Here, I'm going to give you some morphine. Trust me, you'll want it." He gave her a shot and walked out. As he did, a drop shock trooper came in.

"Hey, I've been sent here to pack up for you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, we'll get out of the way, then." Anthony picked up Makie and walked out with the trooper, who started to undo the Velcro. Makie noticed three blankets laying on the ground, with large objects under them. She tried to look away but could not.

"Are those dead bodies?" Makie asked, knowing the answer.

"Yea, the team that came managed to pick off three people coming out of their pods." Makie looked down, sadly. "Makie, I'm going to put you down here so I can help with some things. Will you be OK by yourself?"

"I'll be fine, go help." She said, wishing she could too. Anthony walked towards Master Chief, exchanged a few words, then ran towards where Master Chief pointed. After about half an hour, Makie laid down on the rocks and fell asleep. And woke up an hour later on Anthony's back. The team was traveling through the woods, silently to avoid any further attention from the covenant. They probably already knew they were there. Makie looked up, to get a view of her surroundings and where she was. It reminded her of the woods behind her house.

"Hey" Anthony said as he realized she picked up her head.

"Where are we?"

"Tracking the footsteps of the team that was sent to our camp yesterday. In theory, it should lead us to their base. Or somewhere that can." Makie laid her head back down on Anthony's shoulders, nuzzled his shoulder, and smiled.

"I'll watch your back." She said, blushing.


	4. Enemy Camp

A/N: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 4: Enemy Camp_

After tracking the covenant team for more than two hours, the team finally came to the base of a covenant ship. A scout was sent to see how many enemies there was. Anthony walked over to a wall and set Makie down, as she overcame the pain of her injury.

"I want to hide you, but there's not many places to choose from." He said as he looked around.

"I'll be fine. You don't need to hide me." She said as she smiled up at him. Anthony smiled as well. He picked up her hand, held it in his, then pulled out his pistol and gave it to her.

"Be careful, OK?" Makie set the pistol on the ground and held his hand tightly with both of hers.

* * *

"I told you, I'll be fine." She said as she let go. Anthony walked away as Makie said to herself, "Just don't die."

Anthony walked over to Leon, who gave him an update. "There's 40 guys, 3 turrets."

"Anyone special?"

"2 Hunters, 15 Elites, and 23 Grunts. It shouldn't be too hard." Leon replied.

"Leon, I don't want them to know where we came from. They might find Makie." He said as he looked at Leon worriedly.

"I know. The only way to do that is to maybe move our position in a circle and like trick them or something. Aside from that, there's nothing else we can do."

"Well, if that's the case..."

"They won't find out definitely where we came from, or have a chance to attack her." Chief walked over to them with the scout. "Leon has inadvertently come up with a full proof plan. We don't want to lose someone this early into the mission, so were gonna be quiet about this. Leon, Anthony, and I are going to move in after the rest of you have set up a perimeter. Were going to close in on our enemies, and kill them one at a time, silently. When one of them finds us and lets the others know, the rest of you are going to move in and kill the rest. The ones who have the two rocket launchers and the two snipers are going to keep their eyes on the hunters, they are our biggest concern. Does everyone have the plan?"

"SIR! YES! SIR!" The team replied in sync.

Anthony was on the left flank of the covenant camp, Chief on the right, and Leon was on the other side closer to the middle. Anthony could vaguely see Chief, but not Leon. Anthony started to move closer to the enemies in front after he received the signal from the snipers that both them and the rockets were locked- on. Anthony was worried about Makie. He hoped she would be OK. As Anthony was moving, he noticed a sleeping grunt. He quietly moved around to the back, and broke its neck. To the left, he was lucky an elite didn't see him yet. He moved back, and around behind the elite, and smashed its back, sending it forward. When he looked forward, he saw Chief doing the same. The cloak of darkness clouded their attack. Anthony moved closer to the hunters, one by one killing the grunts and elites in his way. He watched as he, Leon, and Chief came closer to the center of the camp. After 2/3 of the camp was down, Anthony hit something and fell down. He looked up to see an elite come out of active camouflage.

"Oh....shit...." Anthony said

"Wahaha" The elite screamed, waking the rest of the grunts up and signaling the rest of the elites. Two sniper shots fired, and the hunters were down. Then, two rockets fired, killing two groups of grunts. Anthony started to crawl back on the ground in fear as the elite came closer. Then, he remembered Makie and jumped at his opportunity when he dodged the elites sword, stabbing it into the ground. He jumped on the elites back, and broke its neck. Jumped off of it, grabbed the sword, and slashed the other elite coming out of camo. He then realized that there were four more elites around him coming out of active camo. He was out of reach of the snipers, as was he from the rocket launchers. And Leon and Chief could not get to him in time. He started to run forward, the elites followed. He turned around as he realized he was getting closer to Makie. The elite lunged at him with his energy sword. Anthony jumped up, and back down, with his legs around the elites head. Anthony tightened his legs, and spun around, breaking the elites neck. The other two elites continued to attack. Anthony managed to slash at one with his energy sword, and dodge the other. As he jumped in the air, he saw Makie, with her pistol, shoot at the elites head 5 times, killing it. As Makie smiled at Anthony, an elite came from behind, ready to slash at Makie. Anthony quickly threw his energy sword right above Makie's head, hitting the elite, and pinning it to a wall. Anthony ran over to Makie after killing the last elite, picked her up, and ran to the closest hidden wall.

"Makie, what were you thinking?" He said, scared.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to make sure you weren't hurt. I told you, I'll watch your back. It's a good thing I came. Otherwise, you'd be dead.

"I told you to stay put. What if you go killed?" He said to Makie, who stayed surprised and silent. "....Thank you" Anthony finally said. "I'm sorry, I just don't want to lose you. I didn't mean to make you think I don't appreciate what you did, but I don't want you to get hurt, like you almost did." Tears started to come from Anthony's eyes as he spoke, then he pulled Makie closer to him, hugging her close to him. Makie blushed, then hugged back, smiling, after feeling his fast beating heart. "Don't do anything like that again, OK?"

* * *

"OK, I won't, so long as you stay safe." Makie said. Anthony stood up, got Makie on his back, and left.

"Where's Anthony?" Chief asked Leon.

"I thought he was with you." Leon replied, surprised.

A soldier walked up to Chief and Leon, "Sir!, Makie is missing." Chief and Leon looked at the soldier, and back at each other, then turned around to start the search. Then, two people came over the hill, untouched. Leon and Chief ran to meet them.

"Jeez, don't scare us like that" Leon said.

"Sorry, we had a mishap with 5 elites back there." Anthony told them. "How many did we lose?"

"Three" Master Chief said dimly. "They were ambushed by elites in camo, the troopers behind them vaguely saw something, and shot without end until it killed over and appeared on the ground. We were extremely lucky the elites in camo didn't see us, but that's not what matters now, we have to keep moving." He turned around and continued forward to the ship's grav lift in front of him, with the drop shock troopers following. Leon looked at them.

"Good to see you guys untouched. You said there were 5 elites?"

"Yea, most were in camo, I had a sword, Makie killed one, its kinda a long story."

"You'll have to tell me it sometime." Leon said. He then turned around and followed the troopers into the grav lift.


	5. The Ship

A/N: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 5: The Ship_

(NOTE: I will explain what happens to Makie during this time in Chapter 6)

Makie was hidden with 3 other shock troopers below so Anthony could aid Master Chief and Leon in the raid of the ship. In the ship was vital information on where the covenant base was so they could find the general. Master Chief was the first one up on the ship. He held his shotgun up, looked around, looking for enemies, and ordered the troops to move. The shock troopers moved quickly, and gathered together to discuss a plan.

"We're going to move quietly. I don't want anyone else to die. Plus, I don't want them to know we're here. Nobody touch their triggers. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" The troops replied in unison. They started to move as Master Chief proceeded forward, with Leon and Anthony in back, watching to make sure nothing came from behind. Master Chief halted the team, as he quietly squirmed around the corner to a pair of sleeping grunts. He pulled out his knife, and slit their throats. He then turned to see an elite sleeping in the corner. He quietly made his way to it, and held a pistol to it's head. He then woke it up.

"Hey pal."

"Heretic!" Master Chief pushed the gun closer to it's head.

"Scream and you die, bub." He said

"What do you want from me?" The elite asked.

"Where's the information room where you receive updates from other parties and orders from base?" Master Chief asked.

"That way," he pointed to a door at the end of the hallway with sleeping grunts, and an elite guarding it. "If you go through that door, go up the elevator to the left. Then, on that floor, it'll be the forth door to the right."

"Hey, thanks, man" Master Chief said. He quickly pulled out his knife, and slit his throat. He then continued to signal the shock troopers to follow. "Leon, come here," he whispered. Leon made his way to the front.

"Yea, Master Chief? What do you need?"

"Do you have a silencer?" Chief asked.

"Yea, do you need me to use it?"

"Kill that elite and those grunts." Leon pulled out his silencer and his unusually small gun. He screwed the silencer on, and took aim. He took out the elite and four grunts quickly and efficiently.

* * *

"Good, lets move people." Chief proceeded. As they moved past the five corpses, the door opened for another elite. When he realized that humans were on the ship, he quickly screamed, and awoke the grunts behind him. Igniting a small war on the covenant ship. As plasma balls and bullets we're exchanged, Chief explained the plan to his soldiers. "I noticed earlier a longer way to get to that room the elite told us about. Its just down that hallway," he pointed. "I'm going to go around, and throw a grenade at them." Chief ran off to the direction of the door.

The door opened, and Chief looked to the left of him. He saw the team of covenant forces shooting at his men. He pulled out a fragmentation grenade, and noticed that they we're too close to use that.

_"A plasma grenade will attract too much attention."_ He thought to himself. _"I'll just have to improvise."_ He pulled out his pistol, threw the grenade at the team, and aimed at the grenade. When it came within an inch of the elite's face, he shot, igniting the grenade, and blowing the covenant team to bits. Chief walked over to the door, looked to his team, and gave the signal to proceed forward. As the team continued towards the elevator, they looked down at the hangar, and saw two scarabs docked in the bow.

"Chief! What if we plant some TNT? You know, to destroy those scarabs?" Leon asked.

"It would attract way too much attention. I would say OK to a plastique, but we don't have any, nor would it do enough damage." Chief responded.

"I have a detonator." Leon told Chief who stopped, and turned back at Leon.

* * *

"I love your arsenal, Leon" Chief said as Leon gave him a smirk.

* * *

Chief jumped down to the landing platform of the scarab and looked around to see if anyone was there to surprise him. As he moved down to the engine room, he saw two jackals at the bow, guarding the scarabs.

* * *

_"Wow, they suck. Not only didn't they hear our little incursion, but they are also about to let go two of their scarabs. And possibly one of their ships." _Chief thought to himself as he quietly chuckled. He moved to the inside of the scarab, and saw an elite in the back, checking the piloting mechanisms. Chief moved towards the entrance of the downstairs, and knocked on the wall of the entrance. The elite heard the knock, and moved towards Chief's position. Chief moved below the landing platform on the scarab, and knocked on another wall. The elite followed. Chief quietly moved behind the elite, and escaped to the inside of the scarab. He crouched down, and started to wire the dynamite under the control board, knowing time was of the essence. As he finished, the elite came downstairs. Chief hid behind the wall closest to him, and maneuvered around it so the elite could not see him. The elite moved to the control pad, and continued his work, not knowing what danger lingered under it. Chief escaped the scarab, and jumped back up to meet the rest of his team, as well as Anthony, who wired the other scarab.

The team moved forward, counting the doors of the upstairs the elite told them to do. One...two...three...FOUR! As the team huddled around the fourth door to the right, the information room.

"OK, I don't think that there are going to be any covenant forces in this room. Probably some small- time elite techies. Nothing big. Leon, I need your silencer." Chief moved over so Leon had the best view of the room. He held his gun tightly, and took aim as the door opened. He quickly took out both elites before they had a chance to turn around.

"Lets move!" Chief explained. "Does anyone know what this information module is supposed to look like?

"Yea, its going to be attached to the long antennae going out of the ceiling to the top of the ship." Leon explained to Chief. Everyone looked around to see which one looked like what was just explained.

"Got it!" Anthony spoke up after about a minute. Leon walked over to the module and started to inspect it.

"Check there." Leon pointed to a computer directly to the left of him. "The most recent transmission from central command is in that computer." Anthony scrolled through the computer and found what he was looking for.

"OK, I got the coordinates, let's go!" Anthony started towards the door,following the others. The team moved quickly. They could not afford to be there any longer, else they get caught. But that's not what was going on in Anthony's head right then.

_"What if they sent reinforcements after there was no response from the ground team." _He thought, horrified. Then, when the team arrived at the room with the grav lift, Anthony ran into one of his comrades after being lost in his thoughts. Chief beckoned him forward. As he walked forward, he was mortified at what he saw. Makie was not in the cave they had left her in, and the covenant had sent reinforcements.


	6. The Impossible Battle

A/N: Sorry for the long as hell wait... I have been extremely busy lately. I haven't got any objections on how short the chapters are, nor of how bad of an idea it was to mix characters. Moving on, here's chapter 6 of The life of an ODST. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 6: The Impossible Battle_

Makie sat in the cave for what seemed like an eternity. She was cold, scared, and didn't exactly feel safe around these other two soldiers. But most of all, she was scared for Anthony. They sat in the front of the cave, keeping watch for any activity around the ship. While she waited closer to the back of the cave, thinking of nothing but how Anthony was going to make it out OK. Or if he was going to make it out OK. The two soldiers in the front jumped, and ran to Makie.

"Ma'am, there's at least 6 hunters coming down from the grav lift. What should we do?" The soldier asked. He obviously was trembling. Makie could tell from his voice that he was obviously scared to death.

"I don't know why your asking me." Makie responded.

"Because, your obviously smarter than we are." The second soldier responded. Makie knew this was total bullshit. She had gotten shot by a group of 10 elites, plus had to be carried by a guy she had just met. She felt like a moron, and knew she was. But none the less, she knew what she had to do. If the soldiers in the ship came down with those hunters there, they were more than done for. She knew what she had to do, and none of them were gonna like it.

"We're gonna fight!" she said with intent.

"Excuse me ma'am? There's at least 6 hunters out there, there's no way we're gonna survive that if we go out there."

"I know that, but if the other come down, they are as good as dead too. And if we are to cowardly to go out there and fight for them, then we are trash. We are lower than trash." Makie prodded. Makie's words seemed to break the two soldiers barriers of cowardice. They looked at each other, and nodded.

"Where should we take positions?"

Makie rounded the corner, with one soldier behind her. Her leg felt like it was about to fall off, but she had to bear through it. The sniper took position on a high cliff, and the rocket- wielding soldier was right behind her. She quickly jolted around and jumped out of her hiding spot. Before one on the hunters could turn around, Makie had it in her sights. She opened fire, and took it out. The other hunters ran towards her. One was about to strike, before she landed a plasma grenade on it, and jumped between its legs. It blew up, and took out another. The sniper lost its chance to strike at another hunter, with the explosion blocking its vision. There was a loud bang, and an even louder explosion as the sniper caught eye of another hunter fly out of the smoke.

"Gotta love rocket launchers" he said to himself. The smoke cleared, leaving a perfect shot to another hunter. But before he could fire, he saw the hunter with the other soldier in his hand above the ground. It was obvious that his neck was broken. He fired 4, 5, 6 times. Missing each time. The hunter charged its plasma cannon, and fired. Decimating the sniper. Makie didn't know what to do. She was left with 2 hunters to deal with by herself. She opened fire on the hunter nearest to her, with no luck. Her battle rifle was out of ammo. She looked up to see the hunters quickly closing in on her. She closed her eyes and waited for the end. Then, she heard something she didn't expect. Explosions. Lots and lots of explosions. She didn't know what it was, and she didn't dare open her eyes. But she did anyway. She saw Anthony, flying down the grav lift, with a plasma cannon in hand, he fired at least 4 times, killing everything in his way to get to Makie. He ran over to her and grabbed her. He pulled her close to him, and hugged her. She had no idea what just happened. Just a second ago, she was looking at death in the face. And in another, she was being held in the arms of the man she was falling in love with. She didn't care what happened. The universe fell silent around her, and she hugged Anthony back. She never wanted to let go. She never wanted anything to change. She was stuck on a horrible mission, watching people around her die, she would have preferred her leg to be cut off than in the state it was in now, and she had never felt more scared in her life. But because of this one moment, she never wanted anything to change. Anthony let go of her, and looked deep into he eyes. It felt almost like a trance.

"Never do anything that stupid again, you hear me?" Anthony protested. Makie could see the fear in his eyes. Not for him, but for her. She could also see the small formation of a tear as well. She nodded, and Anthony embraced her again. He let go, and picked her up. At that time, Chief, Leon, and what was left of their party came down.

"That was reckless of you" Chief told him. "You should never let your emotions get in the way of a mission."

"No, sir, that's what you should do. Not me. I let my emotions run the show. And obviously, I do a better job that way." He said as he looked at the hunters corpses. He walked through the middle of the group, and took the lead. He knew what he was doing. The fact that this mission, and Master Chief was here, wasn't going to stand in the way, no matter what the cost.

S/N:

Sorry for the short chapter, as well as the long wait. I really want to know what you think of this. I don't want people to think I'm an idiot for mixing characters. If its OK, I'm going to continue it in my future work (I already have some ideas). So seriously, tell me what you think.


	7. The Beginning of the Jungle

A/N: OK guys, I haven't gotten very many reviews. But then again, I never asked for any before now. I hope that the more I ask, the more reviews will pop up. Like it turns from 1 review to 2, and then 4, and then 8, and 16, and so on. A special thank you to Kurush Wuzurg for your kind words of encouragement, and anyone with ideas for future chapters, let me know because I like other ideas from a fresh pair of eyes. So, enough with the prolonged side note and I present to you chapter 6...no... 7 of The life of an ODST. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 7: The Beginning of the Jungle_

Chief stood there, shocked. No subordinate of his had ever stood against him like that. Anthony wasn't scared of anyone. Hunters, elites, even the higher ranked soldiers. He respected him. No, envied him for that.

Anthony's resolve was stronger than ever, he was going to protect Makie, save the general, and, if needed, end the entire covenant army. He didn't know how, but he was NOT going to give up.

Anthony and the team was trekking through what seemed like a jungle. But, there wasn't any animals, insects, or signs of life for that matter. It was probably synthetic, used as a training site by the covenant. Which meant they were getting closer to the base. Unfortunately, the map acquired from the covenant ship didn't have any information on a jungle. Which meant getting lost was a huge threat. And to top it off, their radio was being jammed. So outside help was out of the question. As the crew of 6 blindly walked through a labyrinth, the outside time passed quickly. Before they knew it, it was already nighttime and they were still in "the forest".

Leon stopped "Alright, its time to set up camp for the night. Unfortunately, we'll have to start again at the crack- ass of dawn, so sleep well. Everyone stopped, and set down their belongings. Mostly weapons. They had no camping items, since, they had to ditch them after the first night to not hold them back. Anthony set Makie down slowly, he didn't want to hurt her after all.

"You OK?" Anthony asked, concerned.

"I'm fine, I don't feel much anymore. So either my leg is numb, or its getting better."

"Let's hope its the second one." Anthony replied as he started to undo the gauze on her leg. What he saw was surprising. Her burn was almost gone. What started as a 3- inch wound was now about ½ to ¾ of an inch. "That's good, the medicine is working better than I have ever seen."

"Good news then, huh?" Makie asked. "I think I'll be able to walk now." She told Anthony. She didn't want to, mostly because she wanted to be held by him. But she knew she was just holding him and the team back.

"I think so, but if you don't want to......then......" Anthony hesitated. He liked holding her. She was soft, light, and good company. But he didn't think now was a good time to tell her this. Nor did he think she would return his feelings.

"Oh, no its fine. I'll be OK, its about time I started helping out. I have only been a burden so far, and I want to help now." She said with a smile, hiding a slightly scared face. Anthony looked deep into her eyes, and saw her fear.

"OK, but I want you to stay close to me." Anthony said. He sat down next to her, and started to doze off. He couldn't fall asleep though, since they were close to the covenant. They would have to take shifts, and he was first, followed by Makie. He is also going to take Makie's while she's sleeping. He had a long night ahead of him. As his shift started, Makie stayed up with him for a little while. It appeared that the Chief was up as well. But they couldn't see his eyes through his MJOLNIR armor. They could only see his arm moving. They weren't sure if that was him twitching or if he was up.

"Come to think of it, I have never seen the Chief's face before." Makie said.

"That's normal. Actually, seeing his face would be uncommon." Anthony replied.

"Why's that? Does he ever take off his armor?" Makie asked, puzzled.

"Once or twice, so I've heard. But not unless its important. I don't know why, maybe hes injured and it sustains him for all I know. But I don't really think that matters all that much, he's a good soldier, whether or not he has the armor on or not." Anthony replied.

"What about Leon, do you know anything about him?" Makie asked.

"A little, just the big stuff. He rescued the president's daughter from an unknown group of terrorists a while back in 2004. And he supposedly was one of the survivors of Raccoon City back in 1998. Other than that, I don't know much."

"Wait, 2004? 1998? Does that mean...." Makie stopped, afraid to ask.

"Yea, in around 2010 or so, he fell into a cryogenic tube while investigating a major break in into a cryogenic factory. The thieves got away with around $1.5 billion worth of equipment. Nobody found him until 2529. Rumors are floating around that he's a Spartan. But, he nor anybody else has said anything about it."

"What do you think?" Makie asked.

"Me? Well, I don't know. If he is, then OK. But, if he's not, then OK. I don't think it really matters." Anthony explained.

"Oh...." Makie looked over to Leon, who was sleeping with his unusually small pistol on his lap. She wondered why he had it. It didn't look very helpful. Why didn't he just use a UNSC issued one? "Hey, Anthony, why does Leon have that small pistol?"

"That pistol.. well... its small to you because you have a UNSC pistol. His was made back in the 20th century. I guess he didn't want to switch to a UNSC one because it was his last keepsake of his old days, with the exception of the clothes he was frozen with." Anthony replied.

"He has ODST garb on now, what did he do with his old clothes?"

"I dunno, I don't live with him. I would guess their in his closet or his dresser or something."

"Oh, right, I forgot. You met him the same time I did, didn't you?"

"Yea, pretty much. I knew him only by reputation before that though." Anthony replied. He looked down at Makie, who was starting to swoon. "Hey, you don't have to stay up with me you know. Get some sleep, especially if you want to help us."

"But I'm not tir-" She started to fall over. Before she did, Anthony grabbed her, and laid her down on his lap. She fell asleep in the middle of a sentence, he knew she wasn't going to wake up. He looked at his wrist. "Time: 0215" it read. Her shift started 15 minutes ago. He looked back at the serene girl. He wondered if, no, how someone so calm and beautiful was able to do a job such as this.

_"Women are ODST too" _He thought to himself, trying to banish the thoughts of him being sexist. He leaned down, and hovered above Makie's lips for 5 seconds. Then pulled back. "What am I doing taking advantage of a sleeping girl. Really, I am low." He looked up into the night, keeping alert. He heard a sound, and grabbed his gun, pointing it out towards the origin of the sound.

"Whoa man, calm down..." Another ODST came out of the forest. "I just needed to piss, man. Could you put that thing down?" He barked. Anthony lowered his weapon.

"Next time, let me know before you go." Anthony responded.

"Forgive me if I don't let you hold my hand when I go to relieve myself." The ODST sarcastically remarked.

"Just go to sleep" Anthony replied. He set his weapon on the ground and rested his right hand on it, and his left on Makie. He sat there for 45 minutes before Leon woke up and relieved him.

"You took her shift too?" Leon asked

"Yea, she was too tired." He said as he looked over at Leon. "She fell asleep mid- sentence." He said.

"Heh, well, get some sleep yourself. We start in about 2 hours." Leon said.

"OK. See you tomorrow." Anthony had no trouble falling asleep that night.

S/N

Not good with timing of releases. Don't expect one anytime soon either, finals are up and coming (as everybody knows, and is dreading). BTW- Leon's weapon is his handgun from RE4, in case you were wondering. I tried to explain that in the story, obviously it was kinda hard. Thanks to all who added this story to their favorites, and hopefully you'll stay there throughout the whole thing. I'm actually surprised that this story was as popular as it is (but its still not that popular). And I'm also surprised I got this far on it. I will persevere!!!!


	8. Jungle Trek

A/N: I am soo sorry I haven't updated yet. After finals, I had about a day to pack for my fathers house, which has no reception, internet, or computer for that matter. I just got back like two days ago, and had some prior engagements. I am sorry, and I will make sure to update frequently in the next two to three weeks left of my summer vacation. You know the whole eye for an eye thing. That should just about cover it! Alright, now for chapter 8 of The Life of an ODST. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 8: Jungle Trek_

After being lost in a jungle for 20 hours, the team was exhausted of all their supplies. Water, and food seemed like a far off wonderland to Makie. She was tired, and needed a good meal, they all did. Makie did what she could to keep alive. She tripped over a couple branches, and once knocked into Leon. They didn't say anything about it, but everyone was ready to crash. Anthony had to speak up, before an assault team came down to find them, and the condition they were in now would have meant certain death.

"Chief, we need to stop. You may be able to go on, but nobody else can." Chief turned around, and although Anthony couldn't see through his visor, he knew Chief was glaring at him.

"There's a lake just around the corner, the covenant use it for training for surprise attacks. I saw it when we were on that mountain a couple hours ago."

"OK, guys, you heard him. We'll call it a day when we get to the lake" Leon yelled to the soldiers behind. With excited sighs, the team continued. Anthony walked back with Makie, who had nothing left.

"You want me to help you?" Anthony asked.

"No, I'll be fine. Once we get to the lake, we can catch some fish and drink up." Makie said with a smile.

The trip took another 45 minutes, which seemed forever to everyone. When the team finally did arrive at the lake, it looked promising. Normal lake water, with fish, algae, and an entire ecosystem.

"Wonder why they would have this here." Anthony asked Leon. "Its the only natural thing for miles."

"Training. People, and aliens can easily simulate a forest. But water, the most abundant compound on Earth, is not easily manufactured. So, they just got some real water, and put it in a giant hole, probably made by an asteroid." Leon explained.

The team got their canteens filled, and started making makeshift nets, as well as fishing rods, by using the nearby bamboo, tree leaves, and rope that was in their pack. After an hour, things were going well. Their stomachs were full, the fire was warm, and had plenty of fish to spare for later. Who knew how long they were going to be stuck in this hell.

"Alright men, and, err, woman.... We take off at 0900. We all need a good nights rest, so we're starting late." Chief stated to the groggy group. "Leon, Anthony, and Makie took last nights shift, so Nathan will start off, then Ronnie, and me after that. Then the cycle will start over." It was then that Makie remembered she never took her shift the previous night. The team started in separate directions, taking different spots along the river banks, Makie and Anthony were grouped together and far away from everyone else before she interrogated Anthony.

"What happened?" Makie asked Anthony.

"Huh? What? What? What are you talking about?" Anthony said, honestly confused.

"My shift, I don't remember being up for it. What happened? Did I fall asleep during it?"

"Actually yea, you did." Anthony whispered.

"Oh my god, I could have killed everyone" Makie said, horrified.

"No, when you fell asleep, you were 15 minutes into your shift. I was still up talking to you, so I took it instead." Anthony reassured her.

"That's not any better! I imposed on you! I woke up in the comfort of your arms while you....." She stopped herself, and quickly covered her mouth at what she said. She had practically spelled out that she loved him to him. Anthony's eyes spread wide when she stopped.

"What.... did you say?" he croaked. Makie lowered her arms and looked away in embarrassment.

"I.... didn't mean it...... I'm sorry..... I just...." She turned around to run, and Anthony grabbed her hand, and pulled her back into his arms. He hugged her, and their lips locked in a never ending Yin- Yang formation. She hugged back, closed her eyes, and enjoyed every moment of the powerful moment they would forever treasure. When they separated, Anthony looked into Makie's eyes, then hugged her tight.

"You will never impose on me." He said as the sun faded into the distance.

A/N: Again, sorry for the long update, and short chapter. But I thought it was a good place to end it. Don't worry, I will have chapter 9 up if not tonight, then definitely within the next 2 days. I need new ideas.... So, reviews are open, and welcome, to anyone that feels like it. Thank you in advance if you decide to review, and I will get back to you soon.


	9. Nightly Assault

A/N: Nothing new to write. No new reviews yet. Hopefully, since I moved it down to a 'T' rated story (courtesy of Kurush's advice) I will get more readers. Yay! I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 9: Nightly Assault_

Anthony slept with his head on a tree, his right hand on the trigger of an Assault Rifle, and his left holding Makie's hand. It was a relatively peaceful night. By now, the fire had burned out, and the nearby moon, Rean 9, was in full view and held its reflection on the surface of the lake. One rookie soldier named Ronnie was keeping watch. He had just relieved his friend Nathan from watch, and he was fast asleep. Unfortunately, the person with the second shift had only 2 hours of sleep before he had to get up for 2 hours. Ronnie was giving in to the drowsiness, and waning. He closed his eyes multiple times, and snapped up again when his head hunched down. At about the 5th time of doing this, he couldn't stay up any longer. He was asleep, and 20 minutes later didn't notice the team of 4 elites rising out of the water to greet the sleeping campers with energy swords. They all ignited their swords as soon as they arose out of the water, each lighting with a faint 'snap'. But that's all that was needed to awake the Chief. He swerved around his tree, and picked up two small pebbles and threw one at Anthony, and the other at Leon. He wanted the element of surprise. And to have that, he needed the elites to think they still had it. The pebbles struck their respective targets with a light tap to the leg. They landed on something soft, and didn't make a sound, but still awoke both Anthony and Leon. Anthony woke Makie and told her to stay silent. The elites probably didn't see them, since they were away from everyone else, so they could move without detection easily. Anthony and Makie swerved around the forest trees with ease, silence, and swiftness. They reached the Chief as the elites moved towards the two soldiers who Leon tried and failed to wake up. He managed to get away before the stealth team managed to see him. He moved to Chief.

"I cant get them up. I couldn't stay any longer without alerting them, I'm sorry Chief." Leon said.

"Don't worry, I understand. There's nothing we can do. And besides, they were responsible for the watch anyway. They slacked off, and failed their comrades." Chief coldly said.

"What?" Everyone turned to see Makie, with a shocked expression. "Did you seriously just say that? Just because they fell asleep, doesn't mean they deserve to die."

"Their weakness could have got us killed, we cant have them hold us back." Chief explained.

"Their body's gave in, not their will. I'm sure if they were allowed, they would have stayed up all night. You need to let go of this allusion that everyone is as good as you are, because its really starting to piss me off. Your an enhanced super soldier. You may have worked with people like you before, and I don't know if they were as cold as you, but now you don't. So drop this high and mighty act and start helping some people. But if your not, then I will, and stay out of my way. Anyone who wants to help is more than welcome to." Makie whispered, disgusted. She got up, and started to the two who were sleeping. Anthony followed. They looked at each other, and Anthony began showing hand signs. His plan was for her to go into the tree, and await an elite to near the covered area, then swiftly snap his neck. While he rounded their left flank, and await her to give the signal, then begin a silent assault.

Makie nodded, and jumped. She grabbed the tree branch, swung around it twice, then let go as she came up the third time. It flung her up to another branch, where she bent both of her legs as she came up, catching the branch between her knees. She then swung around, so she was seated on the branch, and watched as Anthony ran through the forest and hid behind another large tree. She then looked back at Chief and Leon, who stared at her, dumbfounded. Makie moved up and down, the leaves making a ruffling sound. The elites heard this, and halted the slash at the two sleeping soldiers. One of the elites moved his head towards the are of the sound, and one of the elites broke off and began moving to the direction indicated. The elite proceeded to take his energy sword and dig it through Ronnie, killing him and pinning him to the tree simultaneously. He had only enough time to wake up and feel the sting of the sword as he faded.

"Dammit!" Makie whispered. She looked down quickly, and saw an elite directly below, looking around. She jumped down on its shoulders, and quickly spun around. She heard a group of snaps, followed by one final 'pop', and the elite fell. The sound of the body as it fell alerted the others, and they moved in quickly. Makie gave the signal that she was ready to Anthony, the call of a Blue Jay. The elites heard this and moved quicker. Makie jumped to a heavily covered branch, and saw Anthony moving quickly behind one of the elites. He jumped up and spun over one of them as they knelt over to inspect the body of their comrade. He used the spin to kick one of them in the neck, and dislocate it. He caught the other elite's head with the outside of his leg, and spun it to the back of him, the elite followed. Anthony landed in a seiza position, with the elites head under him between his legs, its face eating the ground. As it began trying to get up, Anthony quickly pushed his body back hands first. He handed the ground, and pulled his legs back, opposite the elites body. He heard a loud pop, and felt the neck getting looser as he tore it off in his back-flip, blood spewing on the ground and the elite falling. He landed in a crouch, and saw the other elite approaching, energy sword ignited. It pulled its arm back, about to strike. Anthony backflipped just in time to dodge the blade. He landed, saw the elite that had its sword stuck in the ground, and countered with an uppercut. It flew back, and hit the ground. It got back up, and started charging him. Anthony heard a gunshot, and the elite jerked to the side, and fell over. He looked to the branch Makie was on and saw her with her Battle Rifle still aimed. She put it down and smirked at him, as if to say "What do you say?" He smiled back with a sarcastic "Thanks, I guess" smile.

Chief couldn't believe it. Now not only did Anthony outdo him by killing 4 hunters, this little rookie girl helped kill 4 stealth squadron elites. Compared to them, he was a coward. Chief stood up, and walked slowly to them, behind Leon, who met them with an "Excellent job, guys! That was great!". Makie jumped, did a midair flip, and landed on the ground flawlessly. She ran to the shore, and towards the soldiers. One was still asleep, and she began to wake him.

"Hey, get up. Get up!" The soldier began to open his eyes.

"Whet the, why are you here?" He asked, then looked at his partner, pinned to a tree by an energy sword. "AAAAGH!!!!!!" He screamed "Oh........ my... god....... What happened?" He asked.

"He fell asleep during his shift, and a stealth team of elites attacked us." She said in her softest I'm-sorry-for-your-loss voice possible. "We disposed of them, but couldn't save him." She continued.

"Ro....Ro.....Ronnie......." He reached towards him. "He was my best friend......" He said quietly.

"I'm really sorry." Makie said as Anthony went over to Leon and Chief.

"Leon, Chief, those elites came from somewhere. Somewhere close, otherwise they would have been more heavily armed. Which means two things, the covenant knows we're here, and the base is close. Very close. Within the area kinda close." He explained. The two looked around, and didn't see anything. There was nothing there but forest.

"I don't mean to piss-pull on your parade, but there's nothing here." Leon responded.

"Oh, its here alright. Closer than you'd think. Chief, if you would put your head in the water and look down for me." Chief moved to the water slowly, and stuck his head in. What he saw shocked him. There were about 50 underwater, aquatic weapons ready for battle. But that's not what caught Chief's eye. What did was the underwater entrance to the base, unguarded, and alarm- free. Chief got up and faced Anthony.

"How did you know that was there?" Chief asked.

"You said the covenant used this as a training grounds. To bring a weapon here to use it would be too hard and expensive. I figured they might keep the weapons down there, along with an entrance to get to them. The short- based elite stealth squadron that came with aqua camouflage armor confirmed my suspicions."

"Alright. But now that we know it's there, how are we gonna get down there?" Leon asked. Anthony smirked.

"Elites don't have gills, Leon." Anthony explained. He proceeded to walk over to the elite Makie shot, and picked up his head. He then walked back to the team, by then Makie and Nathan had joined them, with a more controlled Nathan. "I noticed they were wearing this, it looks like a gas mask with glass tubes. When, in fact, I've seen this before. This is a oxygen converter that changes the bonds of water, and breaks them apart. Then disposes of the hydrogen, and supplies the oxygen. We can go as long as needed and get inside through the underwater." Anthony explained.

"Great!" Leon said. "Lets get this done." He walked over to another elite, and pulled the mask off of it. He put it on and jumped into the lake. Makie and Nathan soon followed. Anthony jumped in with Chief.

The water was surprisingly bright. The light shown from the gate of the base, and it was easily seen from the top of the lake. It was shocking that nobody noticed it earlier. The team swum down. Further and further. The only one that didn't swim was Chief, he could only sink. When he got to the bottom, he walked over to the others, who prepared to open the floodgates. They pressed a button, and it opened the large door. The team went inside, guns raised, and prepared for battle as the door closed behind them. The water sunk and the second door opened, welcoming them to the very heart of the enemy's grasp.


	10. First Meeting

A/N: I really hate school. My new one sucks. Alright, enough of my problems. I don't have anything new to report in terms of the story. Well, alrighty then. Enjoy Chapter 10 of The Life of an ODST.

I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 10: First Meeting_

Anthony rounded the corner, flattened against a wall. He looked around the hall, and into the next room.

"Clear" he whispered. The team moved into the room and spread out.

"We need to find the general." Leon said. "Where would a prisoner be held?" He asked as he walked about the room.

"A secure area with guards that can easily see all entrances, has available cover, and is brightly illuminated?" Makie asked. Everyone looked at her with different looks. Shock, confusion, one that accused her of being crazy, and Master Chief's visor. "Sorry, I didn't think it was such a bad-"

"Actually, she's right." Leon interrupted.

"Wow, I'm surprised she would come up with something that genius" Nathan said.

"Shutup, jackass." Anthony spoke.

"Let's move" Chief moved ahead to a door with a sign above that read "Armory" Chief moved into the hall, and peered around the corner. Three grunts moved into a room with a fleet of covenant troops inside it. Inside, the troops were eating and conversing. "Mess hall" Chief said. They continued moving further down the corridor slowly and silently, only to see small, unimportant rooms to them. Bunks, communications, supplies, armories, and some other stuff. All important to the covenant and, if destroyed, would prove to be very bad. But unimportant to the team on search for the general. They stopped and looked at each other, still crouched.

"Where the hell is he?" An impatient Nathan asked.

"I'm not sure. The best place to look would be on the lower levels. It's more well guarded." Leon said. "Did anyone see any-" he was but off by the 'KSS' of an air compressed door opening. The team looked around, and jumped to the closest hiding spot they could. Anthony jumped to an open closet, Leon behind a small cylindrical mechanical object. Nathan grabbed Makie and jumped with her behind a wall. Which left Chief with nowhere to hide. Chief jumped up, and grabbed a hold of a series of pipes lining the ceiling. He picked his feet up to his body just as the elite looked his way. The elite looked around, swearing he heard some sort of noise. He dismissed it and turned left.

_"Damn"_ Chief thought to himself. Makie and Nathan were gonna be seen. Soon, if he didn't act. The elite passed by Chief without noticing him. Chief let his feet fall, and twisted around as he let go of the sturdy pipes. He met the floor with a small tap, unusual due to his size. He silently stalked behind the elite, and grabbed it in a strangle hold just as it was about to notice the two nervous wrecks hiding behind the wall. Chief kicked the back of the elite's leg, snapping it. The elite tried to cry out in pain, but with Chief's tightening grip, it only managed to let out a small choke. The elite fell to one knee, and Chief took the opportunity to drill it's head into a wall, the result being in it's ultimate demise as it's skull shattered. The motionless body fell, and Chief looked at it, and the wall. "Hard to cover that up..." He was referring to, of course, the large blood splatter and brain matter that remained on the wall of the seemingly low- secured base. Even a grunt would know something was wrong if it saw that. Anthony and Leon came out of their hiding spots, and noticed the dripping mass on the wall as well. As they looked around for something to use to cover up their seemingly dirty crime, Makie met Chief with satisfaction at her accomplishment.

"It seems you do care.... We're even now, I guess." She said with a wink and a smile as she ran over to Anthony.

".....Women.... such unusual creatures...." Chief said to himself. He recalled when he said something similar to Mike when he was talking about Linda behind her back. He couldn't quite recall what it was about though.... He knew it was going to eat at him, especially since he wanted to always treasure every moment he spent with his only friends. Nathan looked to the dead elite, and kicked it as if in revenge for his fallen friend. He then picked it up, and took it into the shadowed area behind the metal object Leon hid behind. He set it down, and searched it for anything the team could use. All he could find was an oily wash rag the elite had used for repairing the mechanical structures in the room it originated from.

"I got something" He said to the others. He got up, and walked to the wall, and began wiping up the gory mess. Once the wall and floor was clean, Nathan threw the rag back onto the elite's hidden corpse. The team regrouped and continued to walk the way they were heading before they were so trenchantly interrupted. Leon stopped, and looked left in a thought process. Everyone turned around and looked at him, and at each other, puzzled. Leon looked at them, smiled, and ran back to the room their enemy came from. Inside was a series of supercomputers, and likely if destroyed, would turn the base into chaos. The team could have done such a thing, but didn't want their presence known and that wasn't their primary objective. Leon ran over to a large monitor overlooking a series of keyboards. He began typing as the screen began moving. Eventually, a map of the large underground structure was brought out. Leon looked around for anything that looked like a printer. And, of course, there was nothing in sight.

"They have all this, but no printer?" Leon whined.

"Quit complainin'!" Nathan said as he walked towards the monitor. He pulled a wire and a small PDA out of his sack, and plugged it into the computer's designated port. He pressed some buttons, then the screen read "DATA WRITING....FINISHED!" Nathan looked at Leon and smiled. He unplugged the PDA, and gave it to Leon. He then looked at the screen and thought to himself. The team started walking away but turned around to see Nathan staring at the keyboard.

"Nate, lets go!" Makie said. Nathan looked at her, puzzled.

"Nate?" He asked.

"Yea, your new nickname!" She said cheerfully. Nathan shook his head, and looked at the team.

"Uuh, go on ahead. I'm gonna check on something. I wont be long." He said as he turned around with determination in his eyes. Makie looked scared, and walked over to him.

"Nathan, what are you doing? There's nothing to do here, we have what we need." She said as she grabbed his arm and started pulling. He looked at her and tried to don the most authentic smile he could muster, given the circumstances.

"It's OK, I'll be right behind you." He said. Makie could see right through the seemingly transparent smile and happy attitude he gave her, and saw his resolve. Strong willed, just like Anthony. He must have took a thing or two from him. And if that was the case, he wouldn't be budged easily. Anthony walked over to her, and pulled her away from Nathan, it seemed he took the hint as well. She unwillingly turned around and began running with the team, leaving their comrade behind... never to see him again. Nathan pulled out a small portable storage device and plugged it in. He grabbed his weapon and faced the door as the screen read "COPYING ALL DATA.....". He didn't have much time before someone knew what he was up to. But it was long enough to get it to the UNSC. He really hoped they would get something out of this.

Makie ran with the team, with Leon following. They ran from hall to hall, until they reached a large flight of stairs. They began to walk down slowly and quietly. Leon peered around the corner, and pulled his hand up, calling the team to a halt. He turned around slowly. Trying not to draw too much attention.

"2 brutes. 4 honor guards, and 10 grunts. This is the most secure area of the base. The general is definitely through the door they are guarding." He explained. "How we are going to get to that door is another problem altogether." Leon obviously didn't have any ideas, and neither did the rest of the team. Leon looked up and noticed something, the ceiling was different than the rest of the building. It was tiled. He looked down to the others, who were still stretching for ideas. Leon got up, and felt the ceiling tiles, they were fairly sturdy. Definitely strong enough to hold up a person. Not Chief, but the rest of them, probably. Leon had an idea, that was just crazy enough to work.

Leon, Anthony, and Makie ruffled through the ceiling, dodging the heating ducts, and aluminum tubing while all the while trying to be as stealthy as possible. It was a fairly long distance before they got to where they needed to be. Leon tapped the floor... rather... ceiling, trying to find an opening to use. He looked up to Anthony and Makie, with disappointment.

"We'll have to fight them to get in. They have no openings whatsoever in the holding cells." Leon said. Anthony radioed in to Chief to give him an update.

"Chief, it's a no go, we're gonna need to fight to get in. Be prepared to lend backup, because we'll need it." Anthony whispered into the microphone.

"Got it." Came the dark, quiet response. He was trying his best to stay hidden as well. Anthony looked at Leon.

"Less we get in each others way and end up killing each other, we're gonna need a plan. I have a fairly simple one, but it's gonna require a lot of trust and deduction on our end. We go in one at a time. I'll go first, and pick off as many as I can get. Try to take care of the grunts, to get them out of the way. Once it gets to the point where I can't handle one guy, one of you will have to step in and start attacking." Anthony explained. It seemed simple, and easy. The only hard part was figuring out when someone else had to run interception. The two nodded their heads, and Anthony walked a little ways before nodding to his friends, and jumping into the air. He landed and fell through, onto a grunt that gave way with a loud cry, which lead to everyone else's alert of his presence, aside from a large human standing right in front of them. Leon and Makie began firing, and managed to pick off 4 of the remaining grunts. The others began running, and Makie jumped down and ran after them. She knew they were gonna call for backup, which was definitely unwanted attention. An honor guard approached Anthony, with a brute following armed with a gravity hammer. The elite pulled up his arm in an effort to strike, but Anthony punched it in the chest, and pulled its arm into an arm lock. He then grabbed the inactive energy sword on its leg. The brute behind had picked up it's gravity hammer before Anthony made the move on the elite, and started swinging. It didn't have enough time to withdraw the hammer before Anthony dodged to the left, and the hammer hit the elite, both sending it flying and smashing it to pieces at the same time. Anthony ignited the energy sword, and without giving the brute any time to recover, drilled it into it's abdomen. Anthony then spotted the second brute picking up its hammer, and began to lower it. At the same time, Anthony heard a series of loud thumps behind him, but couldn't move given his current position. Before he knew it, Chief had appeared in from of the brute, and was standing straight in the path of the hammer. The brute swung it with ground breaking force, but was intercepted by the Master Chief's forearms. He had actually caught the hammer in an attempt to save Anthony. Chief then pivoted both arms around the hammer, and grabbed it with both hands. Chief used an amazing feat of strength, and picked up the brute, hammer and all, and smacked it down onto the floor headfirst, sending blood flying. Anthony heard a sword ignite behind him, and the heat of an energy sword as it approached his neck. He then heard a silent "CLICK" that stood out from other things he had heard. An elite fell on him, which impaired him from moving. Chief turned around to see Leon holding a beam rifle. From where he got it, he didn't know. Chief saw another honor guard approaching Leon from behind. He drew his knife, and threw it at the elite with such accuracy, that it made a slight incision on Leon's head when it landed into the elite's neck. It scrambled to hold onto the wound, clinging to dear life, and collapsed as Leon dove forward, just missing it. He got up, and ran to the Chief.

"Thanks, I owe you." Without acknowledgment, Chief proceeded to pick up the elite and brute that was toppled on top of Anthony and threw both to the side, giving the newly freed soldier some air to breathe. Makie was down the hall opposite where they came from running towards them. Anthony got up, and greeted her as the team regrouped. Anthony looked at the Master Chief.

"The guards had no key. There's no way to open this door." The Chief explained. Chief looked around for something to use, but found nothing but Leon's beam rifle, and two gravity hammers, which would most likely turn out to be useful later during their escape. Whereas Chief saw nothing, in Anthony's eyes, he saw the only tools he needed to open the door. Anthony turned to Leon.

"Can I borrow that beam rifle for a sec?" He asked.

"Umm, sure?" Leon replied, confused. He gave Anthony the rifle, and watched as he picked up the gravity hammer, and gave one to the Chief.

"We have to overload the circuits powering the force field protecting the door. Using the power of the hammer, we should be able to do just that. We both have to hit it together though, otherwise it won't work." Chief took the hammer, and both faced the door with the protective barrier. "On 3....1......2......3!" Anthony cried. Both charged at the door, and swung the hammers, contacting the door at the exact same time. No dice. "Again." The two backed up, and charged again, and again, and again. "One more time" The two stepped back a little further, and charged faster into the door, and swung harder, amping up the power output. Sure enough, the door shut off, and the remaining power of the hammer dented the door slightly, leaving a small opening where the two doors met. "Now comes the job of the beam rifle." Anthony picked up the beam rifle, and jammed it in the small opening. Anthony picked up the gravity hammer, and faced the beam rifle so he was looking at it from the side. He backed up, and ran to the rifle, and hit it sideways, opening the door in the intended direction it was made to go, but not exactly in the most simple of ways. Inside, was a medium built man with short brown hair and a high officer's uniform on. Chief was the first to approach him.

"General, I am Spartan- 117. I am here to transport you to the intended area for extraction by order of the UNSC."

"I know who you are, Spartan. There is no need to greet me formally, seeing the position we are in now. I thank you for coming to my aid, but we don't have time to get through all of this now. Let's go." The general quickly began the journey to get out of the base, as if he was expecting something bad to happen. At this, Makie knew something wrong was going to happen, and the general was at the center of it all.

A/N: I don't know if you guys saw it, but I uploaded a small trailer- ish thing for my next story, entitled Ominous Spirits. Check it out, you just might like it. It won't be started until this story is finished, however. This is going to be my main priority for quite a while. Otherwise, I won't come back to it.


	11. The True Target

A/N: As of now, I am about half way done with the story. Sorry about the so- called "update", if it was sent to you. I replaced some chapters after I realized there were some grammatical errors on them, I also renamed all the chapters (something I have wanted to do for a while), and lastly I fixed the disclaimer thing that I missed a while ago. I also accidentally uploaded a false Chapter 11, that's why the new chapter message was sent to you. I am currently looking for a beta reader to avoid such things (grammar errors, sentence structure, etc.) in the future. If anyone is interested, PM me. On another note, I am ready to finish this story. Not because I am getting tired of it, by any means. But because I have soo many other ideas floating around in my head that I want to share, and I can't type fast enough! So, I am going to have a sit down this Saturday and hopefully I will be able to finish this. I'm not going to guarantee anything though because unexpected things occur fairly often and some chapters may be longer than others. But, last time I did this (before I uploaded it to FanFiction) I wrote the first 5 chapters. Alright, well, here's Chapter 11 of The Life of an ODST. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 11: The True Target_

Getting out of the base wasn't going to be as easy as the team had hoped. They were in the most secluded area in the base, and now the alarm was blaring. They didn't know how they had set it off, but that wasn't the point. They were now forced into fighting their way out, and still had to find Nathan. As they ran down the hall, Leon was trying to contact him through the radio.

"Nathan... Nathan, respond!" Nothing. It came as no surprise though, he knew the covenant had top notch security, and keeping a low profile while digging through their files wasn't an easy task. "Bu-beep!" The PDA rang in Leon's pocket. He and everyone stopped, and looked, confused. Leon took it out, and everyone gathered around. He pressed the green button on screen. Nathan appeared, bloody and battle worn. "Nathan!" Leon had both worry and shock in his voice. "Where are you?" Leon pressed.

"It doesn't matter. I've finished sending the Covenant's entire system information to the UNSC technical unit for processing. I'm sorry guys, but while in the process I triggered the alarm." Everyone looked at each other, surprised at his accomplishment. "Sorry guys, it's going to be a lot harder getting out now." Leon looked at the blank stare of Chief's visor, they now knew what set off the alarm.

"Get out of there!" Leon screamed into the microphone.

"Geh" he said as his injuries surged with pain as he moved. "I can't, I'm pinned for the most part." he said. "I've sustained too many injuries. Good luck, guys. I guess I won't be seeing you aro- AGH!!!" Nathan flew forward at the sound of an explosion and plasma weapons firing. The line went dead. Makie formed tears in her eyes as she watched the screen that read "SIGNAL LOST.... ATTEMPTING TO RECONNECT....". She slowly made her way down as her head fell into her hands and her tears couldn't stop.

"DAMMIT!" Leon screamed. Anthony bent over, and held Makie his arms, bracing for her emotional rage and sadness.

"But.... I.... I didn't even know him...." She whispered into Anthony's ear.

"I know. But a comrade, no, a friend was lost, and there is nothing to avoid the sadness that comes with it." He said calmly.

"Why him!? Why us!? Why are all of us dying!?" She cried out. She looked up into Anthony's eyes. "Are we next?" Anthony peered back into her eyes, and saw fear. Something he hadn't seen in her before. His heart melted down, seeing her this distraught. He knew he had to say something to encourage her, even if his own thoughts completely disagreed.

"War is one of the saddest actions humans have taken part in. Friends die, family's torn apart, injuries, both physical and emotional, are ever continuing. But, everyone who fights, they fight for something. Whether it be freedom for others, hope that someday they will return to their family and friends, or to protect the ones who matter most to them, they fight for something. I have never found that to be true in my case, until now. I have something to fight for, Makie. You. I will never let anything bad happen to you, so long as I have anything to do with it." Makie then looked into his eyes and saw a great fighter in her midst that wouldn't give up, no matter the circumstances. Had this been what Chief saw when Anthony fought off all of the hunters? If so, now she knew why he had such respect for him. For her, it was different. She didn't respect him, no, more than that. His heartfelt speech drove her into slowly putting her hand on the back of his head, and pulling it closer for a small, but needed kiss. As they drew closer, shots were heard from a plethora of plasma weapons. Anthony quickly looked up and saw a good 10 to 12 covenant troops at the end of the hallway. Anthony grabbed Makie and dove to the side into another hallway.

"Stay back, general!" Chief yelled as he pushed him back against the wall. Shots rang from Chief's, Leon's, and Anthony's weapons. Makie looked around for her weapon, only to find it in the middle of the rumble pit. She unholstered her pistol and got up. She walked slowly behind the three men, and as one of them drew back to reload, she took over, and vice- versa. The team was running out of bullets, and the covenant showed no sign of decline.

"We can't keep this up!" Chief cried out. "Down the hall, go go go!" Everyone simultaneously ran down the hall they were at, running in random directions hoping not to get caught by any covenant forces. The team stopped after 10 minutes, needing to catch their breath. Leon pulled out the PDA and looked at the map Nathan uploaded onto it. He looked for a way out of where they were, only to discover they got further away than before they were attacked. He looked for another way out, and, luckily, found the front door. He traced an invisible route on the screen, trying to clear his mind to think. The others looked around, still panting. Makie stood up just as Anthony caught a covenant guard right behind where they were. His eyes widened, he grabbed Makie, turned around, and at the same time grabbed the pistol on his right leg holster. He aimed and fired, only to hear a slight "click" and a laugh from the opposite side of the hall, signaling that the elite had found them. Time seemed to stop as thoughts ran through Anthony's mind.

_"Dammit, Chief nor Leon could fire in time..... I have no weapons to grab.... If I were to duck, Leon would get hit.... Wait, plasma is another form of fire...."_ Anthony concentrated as the elite fired his weapon, and a ball of plasma flew straight towards him and Makie, only for it to stop abruptly 3 inches before Anthony's outstretched hand. Makie looked up to Anthony, and saw his eyes closed in a meditative, concentrating look. Everyone stopped during the 5 seconds the glowing ball was floating, and everyone looked wide- eyed at the soldier who somehow stopped a plasma bullet, including the elite. Anthony's eyes then opened with anger. He drew his hand back, pulling the ball with him, and threw it forward, flinging it at the enemy that fired it. It hit with dead impact, having the same effects that rocket launchers have with wood. Everyone looked at Anthony with astonishment, and having no idea what to say, or where to start. Leon was the first one to break the astonished silence.

"Anthony, how did you...." He was interrupted by shots that were heard from behind, springing everyone back to reality as they turned around to face the army they had thought they had just left behind.

"We don't have time, we have to go!" The general yelled. The team sprung like leopards as they ran down the hall, firing every remaining shot they had left in their clips. Leon jumped to the lead, and began running the direction the PDA directed him to go. Turn by turn by turn. About 10 minutes of running went by before the team stopped abruptly. The room they arrived in was now full of covenant forces. Leon turned to the team, and began whispering.

"OK, the grunts are sleepers. We can get by them. There are only 2 elites scouting the area. There are a lot of people here to avoid being spotted. The general goes first. Anthony, whatever it is you did, you will explain later. But, can you do it again?" Anthony looked at the general, then at Makie. Makie nodded, but with hesitation. He knew what she was thinking.

"Yea, I guess." He said with disappointment.

* * *

"Good, then general, go with him." Leon said. "I'll try to maneuver around the room and pick off the elites. Then Chief and Makie, you can come. But be quiet, we don't want to wake the sleepers." The team nodded, and begun their attempt at escape. Anthony grabbed the general by the hand, and went left. Leon went right, jumped behind another wall, and flattened against it. He started to silently tiptoe behind the elite in front. Leon pulled his knife out of his shoulder holster, and held it backwards, with the blade facing the heel of his hand. He slipped his hand under the elite's arm, with it still facing away from him, covered it's mouth and hugged it as he dug the knife into it's heart. The elite made a muffled noise, after which it's weight fell onto Leon. Leon quickly started dragging the body behind the wall. As he was doing so, the other elite was alerted to a noise, and looked Leon's way. It didn't see anyone, but movement caught the bottom of his eye from behind a wall. The elite started walking slowly, as it raised it's weapon. "Shit." Leon whispered as he looked around for something to do. All of a sudden, he heard a thump, and saw the elite's head on the floor at his feet. He looked out from behind the wall to see the elite's entire body, with a knife through it's neck from behind. Leon looked up to Anthony, who was in an obvious "I just threw a knife" stance. Leon thanked him with a salute, and turned to Makie. He motioned the Chief and her forward, and they began walking to Anthony, and out the front door.

The team was about 10 minutes out of the base they were in, and walked into a natural forest that surrounded the base opposite where they came from. They didn't want to be in that accursed jungle again. The team was lead by Chief, with Leon close behind, the general behind him, and "the lovebirds", as Leon liked to call them, behind him. The general looked around multiple times, as if someone was following him. Makie insisted on being behind the general, to keep an eye on him. Something didn't seem right, but she didn't know what. The general turned to Anthony, and smiled.

"Could you come here my good soldier?" He asked politely. Makie grabbed Anthony's arm, and held him back. She whispered a warning into his ear, of which should have been followed.

"Don't go, he's up to something, I know it." She whispered, scared.

"It's fine, he's a high ranking soldier. An ally, and a comrade. Besides, he doesn't even have a weapon." He said back to her in a soft, quiet voice. After a slight pause and a worried look, she reluctantly released him. He swiftly ran casually to the general, and they began talking. Makie couldn't hear the whole thing, only that they were talking about the Master Chief.

"_Why would he be asking about Chief?" _She thought. _"Maybe an admirer?"_ The general looked away from Anthony, to the side, and quickly jumped to seize Anthony by the throat in a headlock. He unholstered his handgun and pointed it at Anthony's head. Everyone quickly noticed and raised their weapons. He turned to the side, facing them. Makie rounded to the back so he couldn't escape. She would make sure he wouldn't. Anthony tried to talk to the general, only for his voice to come out as a whisper.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "Why are you trying to kill me?"

"You idiot, I don't give a damn about you! I'm here for the Chief!" Leon turned to Chief, surprised as Makie gave him a violent glare.

"Why me? I'm just a soldier." He asked.

"Yea, a soldier who destroyed the sacred ring." He bellowed. "You area threat to all of the covenant forces, and I will kill you."

"You're working for the covenant!?" Chief asked.

"Yes, I have always been loyal to the covenant. I've been trying to kill you since the sacred ring was destroyed. Even if I don't succeed, there is a large covenant team right behind me. My purple heart medal is actually a tracking device." He laughed. "Time to die, Chief." He pointed the gun away from Anthony, and to Chief's head. He started to pull the trigger before he bent back in pain. "MOTHER- AAAAGH!!!!!!" As he grabbed his upper leg, Anthony turned around, smacked his hand, and grabbed the pistol as it fell. He backed up as he pointed it at the general. Leon walked to the general, and looked where he was holding his leg as he screamed in pain. It was charred to the bone. Leon could smell the burning flesh and muscle as he inspected it, and turned to Anthony at the same time in astonishment. Anthony looked into Leon's eyes, and back at the general.

"What did you do?" Leon yelled.

"I.... stopped him." Anthony replied.

"How the hell are you doing these things!?" Leon yelled above the screams of the general. Shots rang out from behind, yet again interrupting Leon's demand for an explanation.

"Leave him and run!" The Chief turned around and ran away from the team of 30 covenant soldiers Anthony grabbed Makie, and ran with him, Leon got up and followed soon after, firing shots. They ran for 15 minutes, with the covenant following behind. The team stopped after realizing they couldn't run off these guys like the one's in the base.

"We need a plan!" Makie yelled above the shots. Anthony looked around for something to use. Trees didn't prove that useful, given the situation. Anthony peered around the tree at the team of covenant forces. He looked at back at Leon.

"Get out of here, take Makie!" Leon looked at him, and nodded. He signaled to Chief that it was time to go, then ran and grabbed Makie.

"What are you doing? Get off!" She fought.

"We need to go!" Leon pulled her.

"Not without Anthony!"

"He will be fine, he told us to go!" Leon looked back at Makie as he continued to pull. She was looking at Anthony, with tears in her eyes. He looked back at her, with worry in his. Not for him, but her, and she knew that. She looked at Leon, wiped her eyes, and ran. Anthony let the team get far enough ahead before he got up, still flattened against the tree. He turned around, facing the covenant fire directly. A plasma ball was coming straight at him. He stuck his hand out, and stopped it like before. He flung it back at his enemies, with no luck. He ran close up to the team, dodging the plasma in his path. He ran up to the enemy, and charged his power within his body. It felt hot, very hot. After his power was at it's fullest, he threw it out around his body, enveloping everything around him for a 50 foot radius in fire, and eradicating it. After about 10 seconds, the flames around him died down. Some small flames were still burning on the little remaining wood in the area, but everything else was left in a black, crumbled ash of nonexistent life.

A/N: I had the hardest time writing this chapter, MY GOD!!!! Sorry if my writing is below average, I had a very hard time concentrating recently. I don't know why, though.... Well, please review and I hope you enjoyed.


	12. Firepower

A/N: Unable to finish the story this weekend :(. But I'm gonna try to write over the course of the week. Maybe I'll finish it by next Sunday. But for now, enjoy Chapter 12. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 12: Firepower_

Makie stared into the black, charred section of the forest with a blank stare, and a terrified face. Leon released her as she tried walked into the area.

"He..... He couldn't have died....." She said. She fell to her knees, and began crying. Her tears poured down her cheeks, and blurred her vision. She didn't know what to do. _"He promised me nothing would happen...."_ She thought. She buried her head in her hands, and cried more as she thought harder about what just happened. _"No, __no__, __no, __nooo__.__ What should I do? WHAT SHOULD I DO? __Where could he be?__He isn't really dead__, t__his isn't really happening.__ Wh.... Why isn't he here? H__ow could he have died? __That fire never happened. I'm.... __NOOOOOOOOO!__"_ Her mind was spinning. Her head was pulsing. Her vision was blurred, she was confused, and scared. She couldn't believe what happened. It seemed impossible. "He..... promised......" She whispered.

She heard a rustle. She looked up, her vision still blurry, to see small movements. Ashes were falling off an object. At first, the object was unclear. Then, it was starting to become clearer. It was a person. A man. Anthony had survived, somehow. He got up slowly, staggering. He held his head, as if he was dizzy.

"Damn, that uses up way too much energy...." He said. He looked around, and saw Leon and Chief standing up and staring at him. Leon in utter shock, and Chief probably had the same or a similar face, but Anthony was only guessing based on him taking a step back and raising his arms, as if he was looking at a ghost. He looked around, and saw Makie on the ground, on her knees, face covered in tears. She slowly got up staggering, still staring at Anthony. She started walking to him, slowly at first, then faster as she got closer until she was at a full on sprint. She held out her arms as she was right in front of him and jumped at him as she screamed.

"YOU FUCKING PROMISED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She landed on him in a hug, and he fell back. She continued to cry as he recovered from the tackle he received. It didn't hurt, but the fact that she thought he was dead saddened him. He hugged her back in an attempt to comfort her. "Say it again...." She whispered as she cried silently. He stopped, trying to figure out what she meant. "Please, just say it once." Anthony sighed.

"I will never let anything bad happen to you." She looked up at his face, into his eyes.

"Then don't die on me." She said, tears still in her eyes. Anthony relaxed. He picked up his hand, and wiped the remaining tears off her eyes.

"Me? Die? Really, Makie...." he said as he smiled. She smiled back, and hugged him tight. Leon and Chief walked over to them. Leon was concerned.

"Now we need to know what the hell you are. But once again, we have to move." Leon said. He offered his hand, Anthony grabbed it, and pulled both him and Makie up. Anthony looked at Leon and smiled.

"Your anxiety's killin you, eh?" He said sarcastically. Leon smiled back. Anthony walked away, and Makie followed, with Chief behind. Leon chuckled to himself first.

"Let's hope it doesn't" He turned, and followed behind Chief.

The team of 4 had followed a trail for about 4 hours. It was starting to get dark as the nearby star started it's descent. They hadn't slept for quite a while. They were far enough away from the base to set up camp for the night without being detected. Chief was at the head of the pack. He turned to everyone, and gave everyone the OK to settle. Makie sat down quickly and sighed in relief as her body rested.

"I'll get wood for the fire" Anthony volunteered.

"I'll come." Makie said as she started to get up. Anthony laid his hand on her head to stop her.

"No, it's fine. Stay here and rest" Anthony turned around and walked into the dense woods. Makie sat back down, and looked at Leon. He looked at her, and smiled slightly.

"It's surprising that we're the only one's left." Leon said to her.

"Yea." She looked down, sadly. Remembering Nathan. Leon caught himself as he realized it was making her depressed.

"I wonder what we could possibly say to the higher ups to make our situation look good." Leon asked out loud as he looked down. Makie looked back at him.

"What do you mean?" Leon looked back at her.

"Well, not only did we lose almost our entire team, and find out that the general was actually working for the covenant, but we also lost him." Leon said. "I don't know what we could possibly say to make things look even remotely good for us."

"Well, what about that whole thing with Nathan? He sent the entire covenant database to HQ." Makie stated.

"Not quite. That was just one base. It seemed like a fairly large base, but I don't think that even the largest base has EVERYTHING in the covenant's database. We'd be lucky to get anything useful out of that batch of information." Makie looked down, sad. This world was anything but fair. For someone to give up their life to help their comrades, only for it to dubbed useless.

_"It's just stupid. This meaningless fighting."_ She thought. Anthony came out from behind the trees, holding two armfuls of wood. Leon looked at him, and smiled as he walked towards him.

"Let me give you a hand." He said as he took some of the wood in Anthony's arm. They both walked to the center of the camp, and Leon began to make a fire. Anthony looked at Chief, who was inspecting the area.

_"Maybe a little paranoid, but probably needed about now." _He thought. Anthony tuned to Makie, and sat next to her. They both looked at Leon. He had already gotten a small fire started, and was working on spreading it to the wood. It was catching well. Leon sat back, and looked at Anthony.

"You know what I'm gonna ask you, and all of us want to know." He said with curiosity. Chief joined them, and sat down. Anthony looked at Chief, and sighed. He looked back at Leon, and then down. He looked back up at Leon. "I don't really want to say, mostly because I don't understand it all myself. But you guys deserve an explanation. And no excuse can cover up what happened." Anthony began to explain. "I don't know why, honestly. But, for a while I have been able to control fire and anything pertaining to a fire- like substance...." He said. Leon looked at him, both intrigued and dumbfounded.

"How in the hell?" Chief asked. "That's impossible. Nobody can CONTROL fire...." He complained.

"Like I said, I don't understand it myself. I have no idea why. But the things you've seen are undeniable."

"If that's the case, what can you do with that?" Leon pointed to the fire he just started.

"Quite a bit, actually." Anthony said. Anthony lifted his arm slightly, and extended his fingers. The flames of the fire began to move rapidly, then stopped altogether. Then they began to move again, but the flames themselves were beginning to float midair. Then the fire began to get smaller and smaller, until only a small spark remained. Everyone stared at the flames the entire time. Then, the fire began to get bigger until it returned to the size it was before Anthony began to move it. Then, it was lowered back onto the wood.

"I could do a lot more, make a fire ball, turn it into lava, make it disappear and reappear inside something like a tree or inside someone. I can do a lot, but not things that would prove to be useful now." Leon looked into Anthony's eyes. He didn't exactly know what to say, there wasn't much to move in on. Chief was the first to break the silence.

"How long have you been able to do stuff like this?" He asked.

"I noticed small things when I was a kid. One time, a lighter blew up in my friend's hand, and the flames that doused his hand just disappeared when I got close. He had absolutely no scarring. I didn't know what that was about. That was the first time anything happened. I was around 8 or 9. When I was 14, I was camping with my family. I was to get the fire started. I gathered the wood together, and stacked them up, and got everything ready. Then, I lit the match, and looked at the fire, and then at the wood. Then the flames darted to the wood, and lit up like fireworks. That's when I started thinking I was doing those kinds of things. Then I started practicing, and eventually, I could control it at will." Anthony explained.

"I see." Leon said. "Well, I guess there isn't much to talk about, then. We should get some rest. We don't HAVE to move anytime soon. But, stay on your guard. We may still be watched." Leon looked around, into the darkness of the forest. Everyone nodded, and began to take their time to rest. Anthony laid down, and looked at Makie.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Makie asked.

"I didn't think that I would ever need to use it."Anthony said.

"You still should have told me."

"When exactly would I have brought it up? 'Hi, my name is Anthony, I like cats, my favorite color is blue, and, oh, I almost forgot, I can summon and control any fire like substance.' Not exactly subtle or anything...." Anthony said sarcastically. Makie chuckled, looking down.

"Heh, true." She looked up to Anthony, who had obviously closed the distance between them. "Hey! Whaddaya tryin' to be smooth?" Anthony brightened up.

"I'm sorry, should I have not?" He asked. Makie smiled.

"If you wanted a kiss, just take it." Makie grabbed the back of his neck, and pulled it close to her. The kiss was short lived, but they both enjoyed it. Anthony looked into Makie's eyes, and held her tight. The two found it easy to sleep with each other's warmth.

A/N: Alright, well, I'm not gonna lie or deny it, but this chapter was only focusing on Anthony's explanation. It was only meant for that, but it needed to be longer. I was originally going to include the next chapter in it, but I thought this was a good way to end it. It wasn't hard to write, not nearly as bad as last chapter, but hard to make it stretch like I did (Obviously, I wasted a bunch of space just talking about starting a fire and gathering wood!). So, review if you enjoyed (That means you, aurion23! No, just kidding :P) and I hope to get another chapter up soon!.


	13. Intel

A/N: OK, well, sorry about not updating until now, had homework and school and- "yadda yadda yadda WHO GIVES A F—K!! JUST MOVE ONTO THE DAMN STORY!!!!" OK, OK.... calm down, jeeze.

I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 13: Intel_

"Hey! Get up!" Anthony was awoken by Leon, who kicked the soles of his feet to get his attention.

"What time is it?"

"0500, we gotta get to the rendezvous point by 1030." Leon said impatiently. Anthony looked over to where he last saw Chief. Chief was up, and staring at him very uncomfortably.

"Alright, alright, I'm up." Anthony shook Makie next to him.

"Uuh, wha? Hmm...." She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "My god, what time is it."

"You don't wanna know." Anthony remarked.

"Cmon, we don't want to be late." Leon said. Anthony got up, and offered his hand to Makie. She took it, and he pulled her up. She stood, and gathered herself. Then nodded, and the team was ready to go. They started walking through the dense forestland, it would definitely give them cover against the covenant ships that were on the hunt for them. The covenant foot soldiers were another story. They would have to move fast and consistent to avoid them.

"How far is the rendezvous point?" Anthony asked.

"It's about 60 miles due southeast." Anthony's jaw dropped.

"How are we gonna make it there in 5 and a half hours? We'd have to be going 10 miles per hour at the least!" Anthony protested. Leon turned around and looked at Anthony. Anthony was right, and he knew it.

"Well, what do you think we should do?" Leon asked. Anthony looked down, trying to come up with an idea. Anthony looked up at Leon with a flash of inspiration.

"Ghosts!" He yelled.

"SSSSH!!!! Keep you voice down...." Leon looked up and around, checking to see if anyone was near.

"No! Dude, make as much noise as possible!" Anthony said. Everyone looked at Anthony as if he was crazy. He sighed as he began to explain. "Ghosts! We need a vehicle. Obviously, human vehicles aren't available. So, let's use theirs.

"You expect us to go back to the base, to get some ghosts?" Chief said, once again thinking he was insane.

"No, that's why you yell. Get them to come here." Chief walked up to Anthony, getting close to his face.

"You actually expect us to give our position away for the slight chance that we might get a ride? You are an ass, endangering your comrades like that." Chief said. Anthony backed up.

"Think about it, Chief. The ships wouldn't be able to get here without knocking into the trees and sending them crashing down. That's a risk they can't take. And their not gonna send a bunch of people on foot to get us, otherwise we'd be long gone by the time they got here." Anthony explained. Leon looked, confused.

"That might actually work." Leon said. Chief turned towards him swiftly, then back at Anthony.

"Well then, Mr. Big shot, how do you expect us to bring them here?"

"Noise. And, if necessary, I'll use my powers." Anthony said.

"Just use them now, nothing we have here could make enough noise to give us away." Leon said. Anthony looked at him, and nodded. He turned to Makie.

"Go behind the Chief." Anthony said. Makie nodded, and walked over next to the Chief. Anthony turned to the side, and started to put his hands together in front of him, but stopped about 4 inches before they clutched together. He then brought both of his hands, in the same position, to his side, and a red, glowing ball started to form in between his hands. He charged his power in the ball, and just as it was about to push his hands further apart, he threw both hands forward, aimed up at the sky, and opened them up as a streamline of concentrated fire energy flew out into the sky, and dissipated 1/3 of a mile away. Anthony turned back to the team after regaining his strength. "We should hide, it won't take them long to get here."

"I have a better idea." Chief said.

The elite and his team was ready to face them. The enemy, that is. The idiots had fired off some sort of cannon, and it gave away their positions clear as day. Humans were so stupid. HQ had sent out 5 men with ghosts to make sure they didn't get away from them. The team was getting close, they saw a small pile of ashes not too far ahead. All of a sudden, one of the elites fell off of their ghost, and it was cut in half. The others turned to see what happened, and as one of the driver's was distracted, it hit a tree, and blew up. The other elites looked at each other, confused, just before one elite was hit with the side of a giant metal foot, and someone landed on the other and shot it point blank on the top of the head. While the last elite struggled to get back it's sanity and figure out shat to do, Leon leaped forward and grabbed it's open mouth as the elite sat there, and pulled it so the elite had to turn it's head. Leon pulled up his hand, and hit the elite in the side of the throat, knocking it out. Leon looked at Makie, still on the dead elite's shoulders.

"What? It's better to discharge him than kill him." Makie looked at Leon a little longer, and she started to sway without her realizing. The elite's body fell over on the ground, and drug Makie down with her.

"Whoa!" She cried as she fell. Leon walked over to a tree and started to take the thin carbon fiber wire that was wrapped around it, and tie the elite up. He got back up, and mounted the ghost just as everyone else had.

"I'll admit it, Anthony. This wasn't such a bad idea." Chief said quietly.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Anthony asked sarcastically.

"Not a thing." Chief started up his ghost, and lead the way. Makie followed, and Anthony after with a small grin. Leon started up after him.

The ride seemed pretty calm after the team got out of the forest. That was hard, needless to say. Avoiding trees was no laughing matter. The beaches and fields that followed were smooth sailing. This brought Leon back to the days when he was a kid. That was a while ago. Almost 700 years. His time as a youth was well enjoyed, but short lived. He enrolled in the police academy, and the day after graduation, everything went downhill. The Raccoon City incident, his training with the secret service, then the whole thing with Ashley. Then he had to protect her like his normal duty required afterwords. And of course the thing with the G- Virus at the Kennedy Airport. He rarely had a time to take to himself during those days. _"My life is going waay too slow" _He thought. _"Makes me wonder how long it will continue...." _Leon was brought back to reality by the colorful rise of the giant star nearby that heated the planet. Leon had always enjoyed watching the sun rise, it had given him a sense of calmness he knew he could never have for long. He smiled as he admired the beauty and tranquility of the sky _"Can't say it doesn't have it's moments." _

The trip to the rendezvous point took a while, but was pretty easy due to the ghosts. Foot travel that far meant they would have had to continue on through the night before. They arrived at 0700, 2 hours before the scheduled meeting. That gave the team enough time to get a little rest, grab a bite, and whatever else that was needed. Anthony walked over to Makie, and pulled out a ration.

"You got any left?" Anthony asked.

"One or two." She said. She pulled out one of hers, and sat down. Anthony sat next to her and opened his own, and the two began eating. In between bites, one would chime in with something to say.

"Where are you from?" Anthony asked. "What made you decide to join the military?"

"I was born on Earth, in a fairly rural area. My childhood was nice, but short lived. My parents were doctors, and were called away for the war. They died in some huge battle, I didn't get very much information from the military aside from 'Their dead'. After that, it went downhill."

"How so?"

"Well, I was sent to live with my uncle, and as with all sad cases he was an alcoholic bumcase with no job and could barely support himself let alone a kid."

"What happened to the rest of your family?" Anthony asked.

"They were either dead, sick, or didn't care. Needless to say, neither did my uncle. I didn't really care though. It wasn't so bad. He wasn't abusive, just either drunk, passed out, gone, or too lazy to do anything. Even when he had a hangover he would drink."

"What happened to him? Did he always drink like that?"

"No, actually. Surprising enough he worked for the UNSC designing ships. He was doing pretty well."

"What happened?"

"His wife died. Heart attack at 28. He knew it was something more, but the police didn't bother to investigate anything further. So after about 2 years of trying to get them to look into it, and him trying to run his own investigation with nothing to show for it, he just quit. By then, the UNSC had grown tired of him being late, missing deadlines, or just not showing up at all for a long period of time that they fired him. The only reason they had let everything slide until then was because he hadn't even taken one day off of work before the incident, and he was really good at what he did."

"Harsh."

"Pretty much."

"So, what did you do?"

"I lived with him for about 5 years. From the time I was 14 to when I turned 19. Like I said, it wasn't all bad being there. He didn't talk to me that often, but he wasn't abusive when he did. His tone actually sounded more.... remorseful than angry." Anthony looked down at the grass, continuing to eat a bite of his pound cake. Makie took a bite of her turkey sandwich, chewed it, then continued after she finished. "I went to school close by. I didn't have that many friends, maybe one or two, but it was nice. We were close friends, and did a lot together. I had to get a job, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to eat. My uncle was living on some government program that gave him money, but only enough to heat his trailer and buy his whiskey. Yea, it wasn't the best life, but it satisfied me."

"How did it get worse?" Anthony asked.

"Huh?" She looked at him, confused.

"You said it went downhill, I'm assuming you had some worse things to add to it."

"Oh, right, yea, well when I was 19, I said goodbye to my uncle and entered a boarding school. It required tuition, and I didn't really have much to pay for it. I had my job, but even after only 2/3 of my tuition was paid for the month, I only had enough to buy food that lasted me a week." Anthony looked down, sad.

"Why'd you stay?" Makie looked out at the sky.

"I wanted to take a class there. That school was said to have the best creative photography class in the world. I was taking it, and only focused on that class. So much that I never did any of my work from my other classes. I passed school with every class except photography with nothing higher than a C. Needless to say, no college was going to accept me with those grades. So, all my talents were going to go to waste. I tried to do some newspaper photos, but it never worked. I guess that I'm only good at taking pictures that intrigue me. The ones I presented to the editor were thrown back at me. He said 'You'd have to pay me to use those, and even then I wouldn't use them!' I left the building, crying. It was pretty embarrassing for me. So, there I was, no home, job, money, family, friends, anything. So, nothing was left but for me to join the military." She took the last bite of her sandwich, and picked up her granola bar.

"That sounds horrible." Anthony said. Makie finished her bite before responding.

"Eeh, I guess. I prefer not to dawn on bad things. If my uncle taught me how to do something well, it would have to be that. How about you, why did you join the military?" She asked.

"Well, my childhood wasn't very lively. I don't have parents for all I know. I grew up in an orphanage. I never knew anything else about my childhood. Not where I was born, who were my parents, or even what my name was. I was dubbed "no face" there." Makie looked at him, mortified.

"Why weren't you adopted?" She asked.

"Some people came, and some of them looked at me, as in sat down and talked with me. But it never happened. Ironically, they would always adopt my roomate. Every person that looked at me always ended up adopting my roomate. It was like god was torturing me or something. Not only am I not going to leave and lead a happy life, but the closest asshole to me is going to instead, and you bet every bastard rubbed it in my face by saying 'better luck next time' when the smirk on their face said 'you'll never be as good as me'." Makie finished her granola bar, and crumpled her lunch together. "I wasn't told anything about myself until I turned 18. The exact day that I turned 18, they called me in and told me I had to leave, plain and simple. No warning, or even a small amount of money to get jump started on my life. I just left with nothing in hand. Only the clothes on my back. I wasn't educated past 11th grade, so I was considered a dropout and couldn't even get my GED because I wasn't taught at a 'real school'. So I was left with nothing. I joined the UNSC when I looked at a billboard that said 'Join us, stop them!' I saw it and was like 'stop who? Well, what do I care, I'm getting' some food.'"

"If you knew what you were getting into, would you have joined?" Makie asked.

"I dunno, probably. I had been living on the streets for about a year before I realized I could do something with my life aside from watch high class people walk by while I was in a dark alley just hoping one of them would throw away some food or drop some spare change. It wasn't very fun, needless to say, so yea, I would have. What about you?"

"I knew, sort of. I didn't know much aside from we were fighting some alien race. Nothing else. I don't think I would have honestly. I probably would have found something else to do. But if someone told me I would meet someone like you, then yea, I definitely would have joined." She smiled as she looked his way, and into his eyes, and him at her. They pulled each other closer, and laid back as they drift into a light sleep.

Anthony and Makie were awoken by the hum and roars of a Pelican. Anthony got up, and pulled up Makie as she held out her hand. The ship landed, and a soldier walked out. He was an african american man, with a slightly larger than medium build, and slight fuzz for facial hair. His nameplate read 'JOHNSON'.

"Alright boys, and girl." He looked around. "You the only guys that made it?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Leon spoke.

"Where the hell's the general?" Johnson asked.

"He was a double agent." Chief said.

"A human, working for the covenant? Will this war stoop any lower...." He said sadly.

"What do you have for us Sargent?" Chief asked.

"Well, if I knew you were the only one's left I would have brought more. Currently, I got 4 extra guys. They are good though, if that makes you feel any better. I also got 2 mongooses, and a warthog. You want 'em?" Johnson asked.

"I thought we were coming here for extraction." Chief asked.

"They didn't tell you, did they?" Johnson asked.

"Tell us what?" Leon asked.

"You have a new mission. The data recovered by the late Captain Nathan had information that the very base the general was located at was a base specifically made to locate Halo's throughout the universe." As Johnson spoke, the eyes of the team widened in horror and astonishment as they realized what they had just got themselves into.

A/N: PLOOOOT TWIIIIIST!!!!! Review if enjoyed, or surprised at what I have brought forth. MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!


	14. The One who Fights

A/N: It took me a while, but I developed ideas for this chapter. The next one is soon to follow, seeing as before my long haitis I was writing that one since I knew where I wanted to be when that chapter arose. I had to delete the old information about the stories I was going to write in the future. If you read the update that this chapter took the place of, it's the same thing, I just figured I'd restate it.

Ominous Spirits: OK, on a Metal Gear Solid difficulty level, this is going to be hard, only because of the clues I'm gonna have to come up with. And how the investigation will run. I'm afraid it's gonna be too short. If it ends up being that way... well, not much I can do.

The Ones Who Fight: This is the only story I won't end up writing along with another story because OH MY GOD this is gonna be hard. This would classify as an Intense difficulty on the Solid level. I have NEVER played any Fire Emblem games, so I am gonna have to pull every bit of information from online. It would be much easier for me to do it from a Zelda perspective, but I crave a challenge. I'm starting it on the Radiant Dawn perspective, but if it gets to be too hard, I will end up moving it to the Zelda perspective, after Phantom Hourglass, to explain what happens to (Toon) Link after (see, did a good job fittin' it in there, eh?).

When Magic Strikes: I think that I'm gonna have the hardest time coming up with a scenario for this one, just something for the characters to do. I'm thinking I have some idea, but I dunno. I also like this story at the same time, because it's gonna fit into a storyline perfectly, and I'm gonna enjoy that.

I'm out of school now, so I'll have more time to write…. I hope. Oh, by the way, take a look at Amigen Backwards it's my new community. Stories are submitted here that are accepted as part of the actual storyline of Negima (post- manga, etc.). If you want to join, please PM me. So, finally, without further adue, I present you chapter 14 of The Life of an ODST.

I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

_Chapter 14: The One who Fights_

The midday afternoon sky of a peaceful planet was interrupted by the loud whirling and the rapid movement of 6 pelicans, holding the troops that the gracious Captain Hawk provided the soldiers with for extra support for the siege on the underground Covenant bunker. Anthony knew what he was getting into, but didn't know how long it would last. He looked to Makie. She had determination in her eyes. He hadn't seen that for a while. Then he looked at Leon, who looked almost meditative. Anthony imagined that this siege would be something history would remember, but not of the soldiers who took part in it.

"ALRIGHT MEN!" Sargent Johnson screamed over the loud engines of the birds. "Here goes nothing! We'll be taking the base from the front door. Be sure to give them a knock! Chief, seeing as you've already seen what the Covenant has in store, your team will be leading the assault!" Chief looked at Anthony, with what he could tell was a sarcastic face.

"Looks like we got the hard part." Chief said to him with a blank voice.

"Sorry boys." Johnson said rather neutrally. "We got a team of marines on the top of the base itself. The Reign of Dawn is being gracious enough to let us use their MAC cannons to blast a hole straight through that comfy little base of theirs. We'll be taking things from the inside." Johnson said. Chief looked back at Anthony.

"I stand corrected." He said, again, monotone. But Anthony knew he was joking around.

"The idea is to get em all together! Then we can just wipe every one of their alien asses outta here." Johnson said enthusiastically.

"What's the size of the team we're getting?" Leon inquired.

"You guys got about 8 squads of men to work with. You think that'll do?" Johnson replied.

"We didn't see anything big like a Scarab or anything like that. It should be fine, so long as that's all we get." Makie jumped in.

"Course not, pretty lady. We got big metal things like tanks and warthogs. The good thing about being the lead assault team is, you get all of it!" Johnson almost sounded jealous.

They were approaching the base quickly. Everyone prepared for a hot landing as plasma fire began bombarding the approaching pelicans.

"HERE WE GO MARINES! LET'S MOVE!" Johnson screamed. Anthony jumped out of the pelican and immediately started opening fire on the closest enemies to him. He and Leon were attempting to clear an immediate area for the reinforcements and the heavy guns to land so they could suit up for the real fight. By now he was sure the inside of the base was swarming with frantic elites, getting ready to come out prepared with the full arsenal, ready to protect the location site they considered holy grounds. Anthony continued to open fire as Makie swiftly glided around the numerous enemies, knife at the ready. Jumping and dodging between each single elite, making sure to deliver a critical blow with her knife each time. An elite, who she got in the thigh, turned back to strike against her as he knocked her to the ground with his arm, but was stopped abruptly as Leon quickly took aim to hit the elite in the head with his handgun. Re-holstering the weapon, he ran to her side and picked her up as Anthony covered the two with his DMR.

"Anthony!" Chief called. Anthony looked back to Chief, who was beckoning him into a warthog. Anthony took the gunner seat as Leon took the driver seat and Makie rode shotgun. Chief ran over to a nearby scorpion, and mounted it quickly. "Alright guys, let's go." Anthony heard over the microphone. Just then, an incandescent beam so powerful it ignited the air fired from the sky into the ground, creating a large crash and sending rubble flying into the air. Anthony knew the MAC had just opened a hole in the base, and the marines were beginning their assault from the inside of the base itself. Leon floored it, and the cavalry began moving towards the entrance of the base, which was now seen. Ghosts, revenants, wraiths, and groups of grunts with elites began flowing out of the entrance, with the occasional jackal, opening fire on the human battle team. Anthony started firing at the smaller groups, taking out a few jackals with beam rifles before they could make it to a sniper perch.

"I'm gonna take us close to those wraiths!" Leon said to Anthony. Leon began to slide in and out of groups of covenant forces, hitting a few on the way while avoiding anything too big like hunters or whatnot. He slid around to the back of 3 wraiths, all 3 quickly jumped out as a plasma grenade landed on the warthog, which only Leon saw. "GRENADE!" Leon yelled as he dived to cover. Anthony quickly jumped to cover Makie, and slid further than expected with her in his arms. The warthog exploded, sending shrapnel over Anthony's head. He got up, checked if Makie was unhurt, then picked her up as he started running to the wraiths. He jumped on the back of the machine and quickly climbed to the driver's cockpit. He took out his knife and jabbed it into the crevice where the door to the cockpit was, and used the knife as a lever to break open the door. The elite inside looked up, surprised, but before he could react Anthony quickly jabbed his knife into the elites head, discontinuing the wraiths movements. He looked to the left to see Leon had already tossed a grenade into the engine opening of the back of the wraith, causing it to explode. Makie had already taken care of hers too. Just then, Chief came on the com system.

"Continue inside! Johnson has already cleared out most of the base."

"This was a relatively small army for the importance of this base." Makie said to Anthony.

"They weren't expecting humans to find this place, I would guess." Leon said calmly. "This place is pretty well covered by a strong magnetic field in the atmosphere. It would be impossible for a human ship to detect it, even if it was within atmospheric range of the base itself. Any radio signals that weren't on specific frequencies would get scrambled while leaving the planet. I would guess that the covenant used that to their advantage and communicated with their higher ups using encrypted messages. The General's frequency was within that range it needed to be in for it to escape the atmosphere unchanged, allowing us to detect it."

"You think the covenant wants us here?" Makie asked him.

"They could very well. They might have known that with such a decorated and important military officer they would send their best men. They might have expected them to send the Chief. Meaning this could be a trap for him specifically. The small group of covenant here and the intel that this base is a Halo location facility might be a farse for the UNSC to send their best men here so the covenant can get rid of them." He said grimly. Anthony looked back at the cavalry, who was continuing inside without the 3 of them.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Anthony said as he started running to join the group. Leon and Makie looked at each other, concerned, and followed.

Anthony continued on foot into each room, clearing out the base simultaneously as the rest of the group, led by Johnson, continued to get closer. This siege was almost over. It was easy. And it was too easy. Even Anthony knew that when things were this easy, it isn't something to be joyous about. It was something to be fearful about. They hadn't lost a single man. This wasn't good. Anthony looked to the side and saw a long, large hallway with a set of double doors at the end of it.

"Leon!" he called. Leon looked to him. Anthony looked to him and cocked his head to the side, signifying that he was requesting Leon to assist him with the investigation of the room. Leon nodded, and ran to his side. They quickly slid down the hall towards the door, guns at the ready. Anthony approached the door and pushed the control panel button to open it, then continued inside with Leon. Inside, a huge room with a holographic map of the universe was spread about. Leon looked around and saw a few planets he recognized. Harvest. Reach. All of the human colonies that had already been taken were marked. Earth, however, was instead seen with what looked like a metal 8- handed dome hovering above it. Leon walked over to it and studied.

"Anthony. Check this out." He said as Anthony finished clearing the room. He walked to Leon and looked, confused.

"Is that Earth?" Anthony asked.

"Yea, but what is this thing above it? I've never seen this before. Does this mean the covenant know Earth's location?"

"If they do, why haven't they attacked it yet?" Anthony looked at Leon, even more confused.

"Maybe they don't."

Anthony paused to register what Leon had said, trying to figure out what he meant by it. Then, Leon patched into his com, to tell everyone they had found the location room, when suddenly an enormously loud crash was heard.

"What the fuck was that!" Anthony yelled. Leon and Anthony ran out of the room, through the hallway, and joined the rest of the team, Johnson now joining them. "Chief! What's going on?" Chief looked at the two of them.

"I don't know. But we've lost all communication with The Reign of Dawn." As Chief finished his sentence, a crash was causing the inside of the base to rumble.

"EVERYONE, OUTSIDE, NOW!" Johnson yelled. Everyone started running towards the exit from which Anthony and his team just came through from. Just as they were nearing the exit, plasma sparks started flying towards them, and caught about 10 marines on their way in. Everyone ducked behind cover and began returning fire.

He knew it. He had a feeling everyone knew right when it was too late. Anthony had just walked into a trap, and was gonna take everyone along with it.

A/N: Please review. I'll have the next chapter up in mere minutes :D


	15. Warrior's Triumph

_Chapter 15: Warrior's Triumph_

Anthony looked at Makie as she continued returning fire on the covenant forces that were closing in on them fast. A few marines jumped out to throw grenades, but were greeted with either a beam rifle shot to the head, or a returned grenade of their own. Makie looked back at Anthony. She still had that determination in her eyes from when they started this siege. She was stronger. Much stronger than when they started this mission only a mere 3 days ago. Anthony looked down at his weapon. He didn't have much ammo left. He figured that was the case with everyone as Leon threw down his assault rifle and unholstered his reliable handgun. Anthony crouched over to Makie. As a few more men fell the cavalry was down to their last 6 men.

Anthony grabbed Makie and hugged her, holding her close to his beating heart. He knew what he had to do. He knew what he had to do to save the one he loved.

"I won't give up on you Makie." He said softly. She clenched him just as hard as he did her.

"Nor I you." She responded. She knew she wouldn't like what was going to happen next. Anthony let go and looked her in the eye.

"I love you Makie." Tears started forming in her eyes as the eyes of determination turned into eyes of despair.

"I love you too Anthony." She said as her tears started flowing. He let go of her and started to rise. All the other soldiers looked to him as he walked out of the front entrance of the base, bullets flying by him, missing only by a mere inch, as if he was controlling where they were going. He walked outside to view the entourage of covenant forces that were there for the team. 3 fully loaded covenant carriers, and already 4 scarabs on the ground with countless numbers of ground forces already on approach. He took a deep breath and began focusing energy to the palms of his hands. The soldiers inside looked at him with astonishment, as Leon held Makie back from running into the open. Anthony outstretched his arm and opened his palm as the energy focused reached its peak.

The ship captain continued to monitor the status of his ship as he anxiously awaited word from the ground forces. The covenant had very carefully planned to trap the one they called the demon in their base they used as a location site for the arc. They finally had the thing responsible for taking away their holy relic. Even the ship captain himself couldn't wait for news that the demon was dead, so he could throw a party of his own. Just as he smirked, the ship jerked and shook violently.

"What the hell just happened!" He yelled as he began feeling light headed and started rising out of his chair. The ship was falling. And fast. "WHAT HIT US? MORE HUMAN SHIPS?" He attempted to yell over the sounds of the falling mass.

"I DON'T KNOW SIR!" His co pilot yelled just as they crashed into the ground below.

Anthony was unsure of how long he could continue to billow fire out of his hands. He felt the energy quickly leaving his hands as he fired another steady beam of concentrated fire out of his hands and into the second covenant supercarrier, then quickly aimed the continuous beam at the third cutting it in half. He let go of the power for a second, and fell to one knee. He looked back up at the 4 scarabs and prepared another attack.

"YOU CAN FINISH THIS!" Makie yelled from behind. Anthony looked back at her, who was already in tears. "Just whatever you do…. Don't leave my side." She said with a sob. He smiled, and nodded. Then looked back at the scarabs. He focused his energy again. For some reason, he felt different this time. His power was more…. Stable. He outstretched both his arms and took a step back with one leg, to ready himself for the beam he was about to let go. He knew this one was going to be \itself fired out, pushing him back a little. Anthony had a hard time keeping himself up. He slid the beam back and forth, engulfing anything and everything in its path. The scarabs that remained started to fire its primary beam, but it was pushed back from the extreme density of the beam Anthony fired, then took the scarab in its entirety. Any ground forces were immediately lost, and any other flying vehicle was either nicked, or downright swallowed by the beam. It scarred the landscape, and boiled the very sea itself. Anthony felt the life draining from him quickly as his brief moment of pure power slipped away from him. The beam stopped, and just as he saw everything he had destroyed, his consciousness slipped from him as he neared what he thought was death.

_"At least she's safe."_ Anthony thought as he fell onto the concrete from which he had just destroyed a wraith only an hour ago.

_"…. What's that warmth? Am I dead? Hmm. I wonder if I'll go to heaven or hell. If either exist. Ah hell, why am I talking semantics at a time like this? Whatever. At least Makie is fine. I hope things go well without me."_ Anthony started to open his eyes to the view of a white room. He got up to see Makie, her head resting on the hospital bed he was laying in. He looked at her, then looked around.

"I didn't die from that?" He asked himself. Then he looked back down, and started stroking Makie's pink hair.

_"It's soft."_ He thought to himself. Just then, the door opened, and Leon walked in. He looked at Leon, and Leon back at him.

"Glad to see you're OK." Leon said.

"Me too" Anthony replied. "How long was I out?"

"5 days. We weren't sure if you were dead or alive when you finished…. Whatever it was you did back there. But everyone survived thanks to you." Anthony looked down, nervous. "Don't worry, everyone's been de-briefed. They all testified that a nuclear warhead was still left on The Reign of Dawn. It just happened to go off when all went to shit. They said that you got trapped in one of the rooms and a rock hit your head, knocking you out." Leon lifted his right arm and opened a manila envelope, and began acting like he was reading what was inside. 'It took 3 guys to get you out, according to the report." Anthony looked at him, surprised.

"You all lied to command? Why?" Leon closed the envelope and lowered his arm again.

"You saved all of us. Whatever you did, you're the reason we all who was left were able to make it out of there alive. We owe you. It would be a disgrace to let you just get bombarded with questions about your power after all that." Leon assured him. Anthony smirked, and got up. He quickly put his UNSC uniform back on, and looked at Leon with a smirk.

"Uuh. Huh? Wha-?" Makie looked around, then turned around to see Anthony, standing in front of Leon. She smiled as she got up and hugged Anthony. "Thank god your OK!" She yelled.

"Calm down! I'm fine!" Anthony said. She let go and backed up quickly, embarrassed.

"Sorry…." She said, blushing. Leon laughed.

"Everything's set for you two to be honorably discharged. The UNSC being led into a trap isn't exactly something soldiers usually walk out of. Everyone has been given the option. Anthony looked at Leon.

"What about you?" Leon looked at him, with a sort of sad gaze.

"I have nowhere to go. I don't know anyone anymore. The UNSC is pretty much all I have left." He said with a depressing tone. Anthony smirked, and outstretched his hand. Leon looked at his hand, then at him. He smirked, and took his hand as they shook.

"It was an honor working with you, Leon. I hope we meet again someday." He said with a happy tone.

"Me too my friend, me too."

As Leon finished, Anthony felt something around him. It was weird. Almost like a pressure of some sorts. Then, a wind that came from nowhere began to flow slowly, but picked up pressure as it turned almost into a gale. Anthony grabbed Makie and looked around as he saw something that turned his heart inside out in horror. A pitch black speck had just appeared in the room they were in. It got bigger as it began to devour the room whole, and the 3 began fighting the gravity that was brought forth by a black hole that had impossibly appeared in the hospital room. Anthony held on to Makie as he knew this wasn't natural, and he knew this wasn't something he could escape from. The hole continued to open, as Leon, Makie, and Anthony were sucked in. As the last of the 3 went into the hole, it began to shrink and shrink into nothing. The hole had disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, taking the 3 soldiers with them. Never to be seen or heard from again.

**To be continued….**


End file.
